Cornelia Parker, Transitional Object (PsychoBarn)

This year’s Met rooftop installation goes for gothic horror with a 30-foot high facsimile of the Bates residence in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. The handiwork of British artist and Turner Prize nominee Cornelia Parker, the work also visually references Edward Hopper’s haunting 1925 painting, House by the Railroad, as well as the archetypal American red-painted barn. Built of wood salvaged from a real barn in Schoharie, New York, PsychoBarn is true to its Hollywood inspiration by consisting of two facades propped up from behind with scaffolding. This is actually historically accurate since the movie lot original was also constructed as a two-walled facade. Standing against the Met’s view of Central Park, PsychoBarn also brings a touch of The Addams Family to Manhattan’s skyline.