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Over the past four years, the Flatiron Partnership has held a annual competition for a outdoor art commission to take up the plaza in front of the famed Flatiron building during the holidays. For its fifth year, the Flatiron Public Plaza Holiday Design Competition, as it's called, has selected an installation titled Happy designed by Studio Cadena.
The installation comprises a space enclosed by 24 transparent yellow vinyl panels hung like curtains around a metal, open-frame structure whose shape echoes the triangular footprint of the Flatiron Building. According to the organizers of the competition, which also includes the Van Alen Institute, Happy will spread holiday cheer by "gently swaying in the breeze…while it casts long colored shadows in the low light of late fall and early winter…a simple device to make you stop, wonder, and most importantly, smile."
In other words, Happy is supposed to make you, well, happy, as opposed to feeling suicidal as many New Yorkers are wont to do this time of year. You can experience the joy through January 1.