Prayer Booths as Public Art

Public art is everywhere these days, and Dylan Mortimer’s work may be the most provocative piece in the city at the moment. The NY Post reports that his prayer booths are located by the Roosevelt Island tram in Manhattan, and are meant to "get people talking." The Parks Dept. describes the interactive Public Prayer Booth as a synthesis of a telephone booth and a prayer station, where "the viewer can flip down a kneeler and engage in prayer." The artist, who is from Kansas City and a graduate of SVA, says, “My goal is to spark dialogue about a topic often avoided, and often treated cynically by the contemporary art world."