Rothy's x Willie Cole

Rothy’s x Willie Cole Live Art Installation

On Friday, April 24, Rothy's and MET- and MoMA-collected artist Willie Cole will transform Flatiron Plaza into a live public art installation built from 2,500 donated plastic water bottles. The sculpture will be assembled in real time by New Yorkers, turning everyday waste into a collective work of art.

The numbers tell the story: Americans discard 60 million plastic bottles every day, nearly 700 every second. The 2,500 bottles in Cole's sculpture would be gone from the waste stream in under four seconds. 

Free and open to the public, the event will feature a pop-up water refill station by HOPE Hydration. Extending its partnership with Rothy’s Plastic Pause initiative last summer, HOPE Hydration will be on-site to fill reusable bottles and track real-time sustainability stats - including refills, plastic bottles saved, C02 diverted, and more.

The installation will be on view from 9 AM to 5 PM, with Cole present from 11 AM to 2 PM.

In-store programming continues at Rothy's Fifth Avenue and Williamsburg locations, where Cole's commissioned work is on permanent view.

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