A giant 65-foot-long hot dog is back in Times Square.
Today, Times Square Arts unveils Hot Dog: The Second Serving, a reimagined version of Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw‘s monumental public sculpture, returning to Broadway and 46th Street as part of celebrations marking America’s 250th anniversary.
Originally presented in 2019, the oversized sculpture has been updated with new interventions that reflect on patriotism, monumentality, political power and the myths that continue to shape American identity. While retaining many of the elements that made the original installation a Times Square favourite, Hot Dog: The Second Serving introduces new features—including a fresh take on its signature confetti blasts—to reconsider what it means to celebrate America in 2026.
The reopening will be followed by The Most American Pageant Ever!, a tongue-in-cheek live performance exploring ideas of national identity through comedy, performance and spectacle.
Hosted by Catron, Outlaw and Abby Lloyd, the event brings together an eclectic panel of judges including Curtis Sliwa, Waris Ahluwalia, Lily Marotta and Jean Cooney, alongside performances from Spike Einbinder, Kiki Ball-Change, Ellery Neon, Kenneth Youngblood, Celine Abdallah, Relish the Entertainer, Peter BD, Jordan Coley and Claywoman.
Known for creating large-scale installations that blur the line between public art, performance and satire, Catron and Outlaw use the humble hot dog—one of America’s most recognisable cultural symbols—as both monument and punchline. Installed at the crossroads of Times Square, Hot Dog: The Second Serving offers a playful but pointed reflection on nationalism, consumer culture and the spectacle of American life.
The sculpture is unveiled today, Wednesday 22 July, at 5:30pm EDT, followed by The Most American Pageant Ever! at 6:30pm in Times Square, at Broadway and 46th Street.
About the artists
Jen Catron & Paul Outlaw are an artist duo whose large-scale sculptures and performances examine spectacle, excess, and the construction of national myth. Working across public and institutional contexts, they transform vernacular symbols into civic-scale monuments that engage broad audiences, using humor and scale to draw viewers into critical encounters with systems of consumption, celebration, and collective belief. Their work foregrounds how power is performed and sustained in shared space.
Their practice moves between extremes of scale—monumental public works that activate civic environments and intimate miniatures that compress grand narratives into precise, uncanny forms. This oscillation invites close looking and wide participation, destabilizing hierarchies between the epic and the everyday while revealing how cultural meaning is constructed, circulated, and contested.
Catron & Outlaw have presented projects with institutions including the Brooklyn Museum, Times Square Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), and Creative Time. Their work has received national and international press coverage and is held in collections including the Brooklyn Museum and Beth Rudin DeWoody. They live and work in Brooklyn, New York.
About
Times Square Arts, the public art program of the Times Square Alliance, collaborates with contemporary artists and cultural institutions to experiment and engage with one of the world’s most iconic urban places. Through the Square’s electronic billboards, public plazas, vacant areas and popular venues, and the Alliance’s own online landscape, Times Square Arts invites leading contemporary creators, such as Charles Gaines, Joan Jonas, Jeffrey Gibson, Pamela Council, Mel Chin and Kehinde Wiley, to help the public see Times Square in new ways. Times Square has always been a cultural district and place of risk, innovation and creativity, and the arts program ensures these qualities remain central to the district’s unique identity
