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    Times Square’s giant hot dog is apparently a meat manifesto about toxic masculinity

    By Johnny Oleksinski,

    21 days ago

    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0ay2gz_0soJYC0s00

    One of the gravest mistakes a person can make is overthinking a hot dog.

    Just accept that the frankfurter, which has been sitting all day in cloudy water, is delicious, slather it in mustard and don’t ask too many questions.

    But blissful ignorance is not the mindset of the Brooklyn-based artists behind the new 65-foot, giant hot dog sculpture that landed in Times Square this week.

    Buckle up. Because these sculptors, Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw, have delivered a meat manifesto.

    Their titanic sausage is apparently meant to “examine consumption, capitalism, class and contemporary culture,” Times Square Arts’ website amazingly reads.

    A kooky press release added this epic Wiener of the World will expose “the patriarchy of meat-eating.”

    That must be why every day at 12:00 p.m., the installation lifts off the ground, angles up to sky and becomes a confetti cannon.

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    The explosion of euphemism is supposed to reference the “hyper-masculinity and showmanship often associated with American culture and patriotism.”

    Um, sure it is.

    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3Rr0SF_0soJYC0s00
    The humongous hot dog is supposed to “examine consumption, capitalism, class and contemporary culture.” Guerin Charles/ABACA/Shutterstock

    Times Square, with its onslaught of noise, light and indecipherable smells, is an awfully funny place for deep thinking.

    Walking to work in a hurry on Wednesday, I strolled by this colossal tube steak and said, “Oh. A big hot dog.”

    My automatic shrug at the abnormal sight, besides that being all New Yorkers’ default attitude, could be because its neighbors include a massive M&M, a three-story Olive Garden and a Krispy Kreme so enormous it’s deemed the company “flagship.”

    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4EgjH3_0soJYC0s00
    A 65-foot-long art installation called “Hot Dog in the City” has come to Times Square. Guerin Charles/ABACA/Shutterstock

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    Big is Times Square’s shtick.

    Plop “Hot Dog in the City” in Sheep’s Meadow in Central Park and the visual would be way more striking — like the monolith from “2001: A Space Odyssey,” except the monkeys are shirtless dudes playing frisbee.

    @adventurous_anders

    🌭🎉 A giant confetti shooting hot dog installation just appeared in Times Square! 🎉🌭 @Times Square NYC has teamed up with artists Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw to feature a 65-foot long hot dog installation called “Hot Dog in the City”. This animatronic sculpture will occasionally rise up and shoot confetti out (daily around 12pm)! 🎊 This sculpture is an ode to American traditions and the iconic NYC hot dog. #HotDogInTheCity #TimesSquareNYC #TimesSquareArts #OnlyInNYC #JenCatronAndPaulOutlaw #NYCInstallation #NYCSculpture #NYCArt #NYCMoments #ILoveNY #HotDog #HotDogTok #NewYorkNewYork

    ♬ These Words – Badger & Natasha Bedingfield

    Frankly, though, my reaction would probably be the same.

    “Oh. A big hot dog.”

    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=292s48_0soJYC0s00
    There are planned events around the frankfurter, such as a drag wrestling match called “The Condiment Wars.” G.N.Miller/NYPost

    I guarantee you that nobody in the throngs of tourists taking pictures Wednesday stopped to consider that the installation could be a stinging indictment of American excess. If anything, they thought it was a celebration of imported German cuisine.

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    Mostly, though, they figured it’s another Instagram opportunity; a Cawker City, Kansas World’s Biggest Ball of Twine to call our very own.

    There are even events pegged to this best of wursts, which is in town till June 13.

    One called the “Condiment Wars” will feature the wrestlers of a New Orleans-based drag group known as Choke Hole, who will “take down masculinity, corporate America, and capitalism.”

    I sense a trend here.

    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1Ct0VZ_0soJYC0s00
    Every day at 12:30 p.m., the hot dog points toward the sky and turns into a confetti cannon. Guerin Charles/ABACA/Shutterstock

    Later on, there’s a canine beauty pageant (100% approve), a hot-dog eating contest (makes sense) and then an on-stage talk at Town Hall debating the merits of the food (uh oh).

    Among the panelists at that chat will be a feminist-vegan writer and activist. I have a sneaking suspicion she won’t be pro-hot-dog.

    Clearly the point of this undeniably impressive piece of visual art is to get the viewer to open their eyes and see the hot dog as emblematic of the dark, crude, ravenous underbelly of American society.

    Unfortunately it has only made me want to go to Gray’s Papaya.

    For the latest in entertainment, top headlines, breaking news and more, visit nypost.com/entertainment/

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