Suicide Statue Causes Chaos At Empire State Building

One of the sidewalk statues, by Jason Kuffer

Remember when the Madison Square Park Conservancy was all: these statues of life-size men bolted to ledges of tall buildings in midtown won't cause panic amongst the masses below? Well the public art installation is proving to do just that.

According to the NY Post, the NYPD rushed to the Empire State Building yesterday after getting calls there was a jumper on the ledge... only to find a cast iron figure created by artist Antony Gormley. And this wasn't the first call they've received—sources tell the paper that 911 gets daily calls regarding the statues. One officer said, "It's a pain in the ass. It's a waste of manpower. We're short cops to begin with and we don't have enough cops to waste answering calls of statues committing suicide." Guards have told officers running in to the building: "No, honey, it's just a freaking statue."

The Empire State Building was a particularly bad call on the organizers part, and even staff there are questioning why management allowed it. Just last month a man jumped to his death from the 86th floor observation deck.

Currently there are no plans to take the "freaking statue" down, and a spokesman for the building's management explains, "We thought it would be interesting and fun to participate in this big public art exhibit, but we only did it on the condition that we first check with the NYPD, and that they said it was OK to do. [If they] ask us to take it down, we would take it down immediately."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in Arts and Events on April 15, 2010 2:40 PM

Comments [rss]

ozik

Gormley is an awful, awful artist who is being given new attention for god knows what reason. These are probably the best things he ever made, mostly because they are so far away from the viewer.

It IS a bad idea to have fake suicide statues on a building IF it triggers police and etc. If the NYPD approved them, they should have a system in place to stem off the 911 calls: "Okay, potential suicide at the Empire State building... Is the jumper standing on corner facing 34th and 5th? Is the jumper standing perfectly still? Is the jumper the color of rusty iron? Congratulations, you've just been Antony Gormley'd."

If official response could be controlled, I actually think this is a sort of interesting idea. It would be horrifying and THRILLING to think I was seeing a person considering suicide, it would totally knock me out of my commuter/tourist zone and wake me up. I have trouble believing that anyone looking at the things for more than fifteen seconds would believe that it was a real person - but that sure was an exciting fifteen seconds.

eddy

Nothing like some lame art to remind all of us who were there of 9/11 and haunt those who have lost loved ones to suicide.

Jen S

Told ya so!

pnikic

hmm, who TF thought of something as ridiculous as this?

mocanlagunas

Some people are so stupid... no, wait, most people are so stupid...

felldownthewell

This whole thing is so poorly planned... just a few days after they first went up there was a response team out at Union Square with searchlights, a helicopter, and a SWAT team. A few days later I saw a response team to the one near Madison Sq. Park. The cops have to respond in case there's an actual jumper at the same location.

Having to weave through tourists to get around is bad enough, but it's even worse when they're screaming and pointing at the sky and calling 911. It's like being in a boring Godzilla movie full of obese midwesterners.

LaliP

and what if people see a real live person and think it's a statue and don't do anything?

this idea is beyond dumb, it's offensive and reckless.

longacre

What does the DOB think about this? You can't just hang whatever you want on a building. What if it blows off?

Mr. Shankly

Chain the artist up on that ledge for a week or so.

jaycjay

Why blame him? Sure, he came up with the idea but it's not like he slipped up there in the middle of night and secretly installed them. He asked for and received permission from the building's management, which in turn and asked for and received the approval of the NYPD.

Clearly if those people who should have been qualified to judge whether there'd be a problem with it had objected, it wouldn't have been installed. All the artist did was what he should have done: he asked.

Mr. Shankly

I was just being snarky, but his idea was the first domino. Go ahead and put the involved geniuses in management and NYPD up there too if you want.

Better yet, put a Batman cowl and cape on it.

matty

I'm going to make a Virgin Mary out of Elephant shit.

drewo

I guess the NYPD didn't read the memo about these statues going up all over town (like the rest of us did).

kazubes

Aware of it or not a 911 call of a possible suicidal jumper at a location where someone just killed themselves less than a month ago will get the same response. The police can not simply assume from a call...oh it must be the statue we dont need to respond because if it turns out to be real and someone dies and they didn't go there are serious ramifications

drewo

I think NY's "Finest" can come up with a workaround. The news that these statues were going up has been known for months.

hotstepper

the artist's intention was to cause crap like this to happen. Antony got his publicity, now bill him for the cost of the first-responders.

matty

i can't believe working adults actually got together and deemed this to be a good idea.

La Flama Blanca

+1. It's up there with the chrome orbs in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Chase

no shit, who woke up that morning and thought this was a good idea? I'd hate to hear what ideas lost to this one.

Wza

That cop said it best.

Politburo

Which raises an interesting question.. is responding to suicide threats a good use of police resources?

phojoe

Whoa now... Well one reason to respond would be that a body could soon be falling from the empire state building possibly injuring or killing someone on street level. Or if the death of innocent people isn't enough to require police response there is also the little fact that many suicide attempts are the result of mentally unstable people being off medication, not receiving the correct care, or simply crying out for help. I think there are a few other ways the NYPD can conserve resources rather then just giving up on stopping that whole suicide thing.