Are they drilling for oil in Times Square? Not quite. But a new art installation from artist Josephine Meckseper entitled The Manhattan Oil Project might fool some tourists into thinking the drilling is real.  Two twenty five foot “oil rigs” have been installed in a vacant lot on the corner of  46th Street and 8th Avenue and will be there through May 6th.

Meckseper wants to get passerbys thinking about land use, limited resources, and wasted energy. Midtown, adjacent to Times Square, is the perfect place to bring attention to energy use. If you have ever been to Times Square after dark and realized it was still bright as day, you can imagine the amount of juice being used to get your attention and consumer dollars.

What do you think?

The Manhattan Oil Project from ANIMALnewyork.com on Vimeo.

photo: Artist Josephine Meckseper in front of the working oil pumps in her public-art installation called “The Manhattan Oil Project,” on a corner near Times Square in New York., Lucy Hogg