As if the opening of Museum weren’t enough excitement for one evening, the Public Art Fund‘s new “Common Ground” sculpture exhibit at City Hall Park also debuted yesterday. A substantial number of people gathered at the southern end of the park; it felt as if we were waiting for Paul McCarthy’s “Daddies Ketchup” to erupt, like Old Faithful, but when the children’s choir came in, I realized many of the folks were probably parents. Mayor Bloomberg made a speech—including a groaner about putting a calorie count on the ketchup bottle—and that was that. The art, as you can see, is a survey of contemporary sculpture, with works by Elmgreen & Dragset, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Roger Hiorns, Jenny Holzer, Matthew Day Jackson, Christian Jankowski, Justin Matherly, Paul McCarthy, Amalia Pica, and Thomas Schütte. I wonder why there’s never any art visible from Broadway or along the Warren Street passage…?

Two notes: The supine choir was performance art that will be repeated during the run (through November 30). And there was evidently a plaque I didn’t notice; it’s a work by Jankowski expressing his “desire to be interred, in the event of his death, on the grounds of City Hall Park.”