The Met’s Rooftop Gets Creepy, Re-creates The ‘Psycho’ House

The Met’s Rooftop Gets Creepy, Re-creates The ‘Psycho’ House

The Met’s roof garden is a popular summer spot offering immersive outdoor exhibits. 2016 offers British artist Cornelia Parker’s “Transitional Object (PsychoBarn),” which is indeed a replica of the creepy home featured in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 horror classic Psycho.

Photography by Hyla Skopitz, The Photograph Studio, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Copyright 2016.

Parker says she was inspired not just by Hitchcock’s iconic film, but also by the work of artist Edward Hopper, who was known for painting rural landscapes punctuated by the odd barn or rambling old house. In fact, the Bates home in Psycho was allegedly inspired by Hopper’s painting House By the Railroad, and Parker’s piece shares similar characteristics. It’s covered in reclaimed wood, which comes from an actual barn; she’s stated that she wanted to contrast the “wholesomeness” of that image with the creepiness of the Hitchcock film.

One thing is for sure: This is likely to be the biggest Instagram bait of the summer, with a subtitle (PsychoBarn) that’s destined to be used thousands of times…so get to the exhibit before that happens. It opens tomorrow and will be on view through October 31 (appropriately enough).

Photography by Hyla Skopitz, The Photograph Studio, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Copyright 2016.

Photographed by Alex Fradkin, Photo courtesy Cornelia Parker

via Curbed | PLead Photograph by Alex Fradkin, Photo courtesy Cornelia Parker