Siesta Hammocks on East Houston
Labor Day weekend, and the living is easy. Early Sunday morning, we spied an unusual sight for a neighborhood known for unusual sights. A local named Heryk Tomasini decided to place hammocks around a few locations on the Lower East Side, just to see what would happen. While setting up with a few accomplices on Houston Street and First Avenue, he entertained sleepy locals looking for coffee (and somewhat more awake tourists heading toward Katz’s). As they walked by, they were giving the thumbs up, or asking about the hammock.
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We were told that Tomasini and a few friends wanted to create “interactive art in an urban setting.” Another installation had been set up in the early morning at Astor Place, apparently drawing a very engaged crowd, eager to try out the hammock. Maybe those people had not been home yet and needed a place to crash?
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Sadly, Tomasini could only be in one place at one time. So, his two other installations for the day – one in front of the New Museum on the Bowery, and the other on the Houston Street entrance to Sarah D. Roosevelt Park – were promptly stolen. This is the Lower East Side, after all.
Guess the homemade hammocks (sewn by Tomasini’s mother) looked too comfortable!
–Writeup and photos by Lori Greenberg
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