Sharif Farrag’s Gotham Grinders: Hamster Wheel
Art Production Fund, Frieze and Rockefeller Center are pleased to present Sharif Farrag’s Gotham Grinders: Hamster Wheel in New York City.
Following its debut as part of Frieze Projects: Set Seen during Frieze Los Angeles 2024, curated by Art Production Fund, Sharif Farrag brings his playful interactive public art project to New York City for its East Coast debut. Participants will race customized remote control cars by Farrag on a coned track, cheer, and win artist-designed trophies. Free and open to the public, all ages are welcome to participate in Gotham Grinders at The Rink at Rockefeller Center on Friday, May 3rd and Saturday, May 4th.
The sculpture-modified R/C cars, now “Grinders,” are fitted with ceramic hamster heads and adorned with custom vanity plates and vintage patches, each with their own personality. Facilitated by a "pit crew" sporting artist-designed suits, Gotham Grinders offers a lighthearted commentary on the hamster wheel of hustle culture. As an Angeleno, Farrag has long viewed New York City as the center of business and sees Rockefeller Center as the perfect location for this iteration of the project. As a student in art school he faced the pressure of non stop hard work, and often felt like he was on a hamster wheel to keep up. Gotham Grinders gives participants the opportunity to take control of their racer while reflecting on the culture of hard work.
“New York City is where dreams are made a reality for so many people. Being one of the economic centers of the world, New Yorkers are notoriously determined, competitive, and fast-paced. The Hamster Wheel is a fun allegory for survival within capitalism; it turns something that can be vicious into something playful.” - SHARIF FARRAG
“Farrag’s Gotham Grinders offers participants and spectators an opportunity for a playful, fun, and completely unique way to interact with art. Through this experience, the public will simultaneously reflect on, and take a break from what we know and love as part of everyday life in New York City. - CASEY FREMONT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ART PRODUCTION FUND
“We are proud to once again be part of Frieze and delighted to work alongside Art Production Fund to welcome Sharif Farrag to Rockefeller Center. We hope to provide an irreverent moment for New Yorkers and visitors who are looking to get off the daily hamster wheel of life, and enjoy some fun competition with these remote-controlled ‘Gotham Grinders’.” – EB KELLY, HEAD OF ROCKEFELLER CENTER AND SENIOR MANAGING DIRECTOR AT TISHMAN SPEYER
“We are thrilled to see Farrag’s project come to New York after such a successful and joyous launch at Frieze Los Angeles. Alongside Art Production Fund and Rockefeller Center, Frieze is proud to bring this thoughtful, interactive work to public audiences in an iconic location, prompting playful engagement with central themes of contemporary life.” - CHRISTINE MESSINEO, DIRECTOR FRIEZE AMERICAS
Born in Reseda, California, in 1993, SHARIF FARRAG merges classic ceramics styles with his own improvisational building techniques, representing his hybrid identities through clay. The artist's work underscores his distilled Syrian-Egyptian heritage, lived experiences, passions, and desires. Farrag completed his MFA at the University of California, Los Angeles; Farrag has participated in notable exhibitions: Hun Kyu Kim & Sharif Farrag, 2021, High Art, Arles, France; Clay Pop, 2021; Jeffrey Deitch, New York; Lois Dodd & Sharif Farrag, 2020; Adams and Ollman, Portland; Drawings and Vessels, 2020, François Ghebaly, Los Angeles.
TISHMAN SPEYER is a leading owner, developer, operator and investment manager of first-class real estate in 36 key markets across the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Our portfolio spans market rate and affordable residential communities, premier office properties and retail spaces, industrial facilities, and mixed-use campuses. We create state-of-the-art life science centers through our Breakthrough Properties joint venture, and foster innovation through our strategic proptech investments. With global vision, on-the-ground expertise and a personalized approach, we are unparalleled in our ability to foster innovation, quickly adapt to global and local trends and proactively anticipate our customers’ evolving needs. By focusing on health and wellness, enlightened placemaking and customer-focused initiatives such as our tenant amenities platform, ZO, and our flexible space and co-working brand, Studio, we tend not just to our physical buildings, but to the people who inhabit them on a daily basis. Since our inception in 1978, Tishman Speyer has acquired, developed, and operated 535 properties, totaling 223 million square feet, with a combined value of over $128 billion (U.S.). Our current portfolio includes such iconic assets as Rockefeller Center in New York City, The Springs in Shanghai, TaunusTurm in Frankfurt and the Mission Rock neighborhood currently being realized in San Francisco.
ART PRODUCTION FUND is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to commissioning and producing ambitious public art projects, reaching new audiences and expanding awareness through contemporary art. Past projects include: Elmgreen & Dragset, “Prada Marfa,” Valentine, TX, Ugo Rondinone, “Seven Magic Mountains,” Las Vegas, Jeff Koons, “Seated Ballerina,” Rockefeller Plaza, NYC, Zoe Buckman, “CHAMP,” LA; Raul de Nieves “When I Look In To Your Eyes I See the Sun,” Miami; Nancy Baker Cahill “Liberty Bell”, multiple cities; Sanford Biggers “Oracle”, Rockefeller Center, NY; Lucy Sparrow “Tampa Fresh Foods'', Tampa, FL. Derrick Adams “Funtime Unicorns”, Rockefeller Center, NY, Sanford Biggers “Oracle”, Hammer Museum, Frieze Projects “Set Seen” Los Angeles, CA. www.artproductionfund.org
FRIEZE is a leading platform for modern and contemporary art dedicated to scholars, connoisseurs, collectors and the general public alike. Frieze comprises three magazines – frieze, Frieze Masters Magazine and Frieze Week – and numerous international art fairs. Frieze is part of the IMG network.
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