Boston lacks playful public artwork as Hasbro and LEGO transfer headquarters

We love our statues in Boston, so long as they characterize historic figures who are actually useless and ideally on horseback.

But erect one thing enjoyable which may wind up in somebody’s Instagram feed? That’s simply not our jam.

I’ve been desirous about our metropolis’s pleasure deficit each time I examine Hasbro’s new headquarters within the Seaport or chat with a LEGO government, as I did final week.

Both toymakers, at their outdated headquarters in Connecticut and Rhode Island, displayed some public sculptures which may’ve put a smile on a baby’s face once you handed by.

In the Connecticut ‘burbs, LEGO had a brightly-colored pile of giant-sized bricks near the front door of its headquarters. (At one time, there was also a life-sized police officer made of the company’s plastic bricks.) Hasbro’s present residence workplace has Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head waving to the Pawtucket populace.

Boston as soon as had a beloved teddy bear on Boylston Street, outdoors the FAO Schwarz toy retailer. You virtually by no means walked by it with out seeing a household snapping pictures. But when the shop closed in 2004, the bear bought relocated to a “dark pocket park,” within the phrases of architect David Hacin, close to Tufts Medical Center.

“I have never seen anyone engage with it like when it was on Boylston,” he mentioned.

“Boston does seem to have a problem with public art,” Hacin mentioned. “Unless it’s something laden with political or historical references, there isn’t much of a tradition of art for art’s sake, or art for fun.”

“Companies like Hasbro and especially LEGO understand that some of our greatest creativity comes when we feel safe enough to play,” Sam Seidel, a metropolis planning marketing consultant and former Cambridge metropolis councilor, mentioned. “In a city that prides itself on innovation, it would be nice to be able to walk down the street and see Mr. Potato Head and stop for a moment to have your picture taken with him.”

I’ve been asking round, and it doesn’t sound like there’s any concrete plan to both convey LEGO and Hasbro’s current sculptures to Boston or to do one thing new. At the Lyrik Back Bay, the mixed-use plaza over the Mass. Pike, the place LEGO opened its new North American headquarters earlier this 12 months, has added some good public artwork, although none is LEGO-related or particularly interesting to kids.

I made a number of inquiries this month and obtained a number of semi-encouraging responses that appeared to depart the door open to potential future happiness.

Samuels & Company, the actual property agency that developed the Lyrik undertaking, emailed a press release noting they “are always willing to consider collaborations with community partners, artists groups and tenants on both temporary and permanent art installations.”

WS Development constructed the Seaport workplace constructing that Hasbro will quickly occupy. Yanni Tsippis, a senior vice chairman at WS, mentioned that there was “nothing to share currently. … But please stay tuned.”

In 2018, WS introduced colourful, pixelated animal sculptures to the Seaport, which largely sit in a median strip.

And it seems like Hasbro hasn’t dominated out bringing some whimsy to its new HQ.

“While we don’t have details to share yet about how the space will look on the outside,” mentioned firm spokesperson Abby Hodes, “we’re thinking carefully about how to bring Hasbro’s creativity and spirit into the location.”

I’m not essentially a Potato Head partisan. Hasbro additionally owns Optimus Prime, Twilight Sparkle and the Power Rangers. Any of them would energy up the corporate’s serious-looking new headquarters constructing.

And LEGO as soon as made a set referred to as Women of NASA, that includes a (nonetheless dwelling) Cantabrigian, Margaret Hamilton, who helped oversee the software program growth for the Apollo moon missions. Perhaps a Hamilton sculpture made from LEGO bricks would fulfill our metropolis’s history-loving denizens?

Whatever we do, isn’t it time Boston sheds the repute of being a metropolis based by Puritans, the place enjoyable goes to die?