British multimedia artist Charlotte Colbert is debuting her largest public artwork to date in New York City with Chasing Rainbows, a pair of monumental 30-foot steel sculptures installed across two of Manhattan’s most iconic neighbourhoods. Chasing Rainbows marks the first time Colbert has brought her large-scale surrealist vision into the public realm in the United States, inviting New Yorkers and visitors alike to encounter art unexpectedly within the city’s everyday landscape.
Curated by public art agency New Public and presented by Simon de Pury, the global premiere forms part of the NYC DOT Art Program. The project brings Colbert’s surrealist visual language into the city’s streets, transforming open-air pedestrian plazas in Flatiron NoMad and the Meatpacking District into immersive public art spaces.
On view from 10th March 2026, Colbert’s reflective steel sculptures stand 30 feet high, marking the artist’s most ambitious public installation so far. The works draw on her distinctive vocabulary of symbols, dreams and surrealist-inspired imagery.
The two sculptures, titled Dreamland Sirens and Where Angels Live, are installed in prominent pedestrian plazas across Manhattan, in Flatiron South Plaza (Broadway & 23rd Street) and 14th Street Square (West 14th Street & Ninth Avenue). Their mirrored surfaces reflect the surrounding cityscape while inviting passersby to engage with dreamlike figures rooted in fairy tales and archetypal symbolism.
Part of Colbert’s wider Chasing Rainbows project, the installations aim to interrupt the rhythm of everyday urban life. By placing imaginative, reflective figures among Manhattan’s monumental architecture, the sculptures encourage moments of curiosity and shared discovery. The artist has described the sculptures as an invitation for pedestrians to pause in the rush of the city and look up with wonder.
In a city that never sleeps, I hope to facilitate chance encounters through these public sculptures small sparks of connection among strangers in the middle of everyday life. When two unknowns meet, a world of possibility opens up.”
Charlotte Colbert
A Collaborative Public Art Initiative
The exhibition has been developed in partnership with several organisations committed to activating public spaces through contemporary art, including the New York City Department of Transportation, the Flatiron NoMad Partnership and the Meatpacking District Management Association.
James Mettham, president of the Flatiron NoMad Partnership, noted that the project will animate neighbourhood plazas in ways residents and visitors rarely experience, while Jeffrey LeFrancois, executive director of the Meatpacking District, described the installation as “a bold first for both neighborhoods.”
Colbert is internationally recognised for her multidisciplinary practice spanning film, sculpture and immersive installations. Her work has been exhibited at leading cultural institutions and global art events including the Victoria and Albert Museum, Art Basel and Frieze.
Chasing Rainbows opens in New York City on 10th March and runs until 27th May, 2026
Find out more about Charlotte Colbert here.
Photographs © Timothy Schenck
