VIDEO: Public Art Fund Installation Has Singer Targeting Pedestrians In City Hall Park

Take a walk through New York and you're bound to run into street performers in public places practicing their art with a hat or a bucket on display for anyone who would like to leave a dollar or two.

But when soprano Erin Heisel lifts her voice in song at downtown's City Hall Park these days, she's not looking for tips. She's part of an installation called "This You" created by Berlin-based artist Tino Sehgal, who describes his work as creating "constructed situations."

His 2010 piece, "This Progress," removed all the artwork displayed at the Guggenheim Museum. Patrons arrived and were led up the museum's spiral ramp in small groups. First by a child, then by a teenager, an adult and finally by a senior citizen, all engaging them in a conversation about progress.

"Kiss," seen in several major museums, is a living sculpture that has two dancers kissing and touching in embraces resembling those seen in great works of art.

As reported by the Daily News, "This You" has Heisel singing in the park like any street performer, but the difference is that she specifies her songs to the people passing by.

"You focus on a person or a group of people and you sing a song that reflects back to them what they seem to be giving off," she explains. "Their energy or a logo on a shirt, for instance."

This could mean singing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" when she see's someone wearing a baseball cap, belting "New York, New York" to a group of tourists checking their maps or "Summertime" when office workers start filling benches to each their lunches.

"This You" is a part of the Public Art Fund's exhibition, "The Language of Things," which runs through September 29th. Visit publicartfund.org

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The video shows Erin Heisel in action.