Video: Toni Pouy

– The platform hinges open into a larger square area, inspired by Ancient Greek couches for symposia, called a κλίνη (klinē), allowing for a communal gathering.

– When the cushions are removed and the canopy is flipped open from the klinē mode, the sculpture becomes a stage for live performance and public address.

SuRan Song & William M. Weis III, installation view of You’re Soaking in It at Wave Hill Glyndor Terrace Garden, 2025

You’re Soaking in It! was installed in Wave Hill’s Glyndor Terrace Garden during the spring and summer of 2025 as part of the Wave Hill Sunroom Project Space, marking the first iteration of this interactive public sculpture.

The interactive outdoor sculpture offered a quiet space for siesta, reflection, and collective dreaming, accompanied by the sound of the garden fountain. Visitors shared rest, reveries, dreams, and stories that became part of the work.

Thank you to everyone who rested on the sculpture and sent me a voice memo about your experience.

Those contributions are shaping a small collection of new songs, each influenced by the installation’s atmosphere, siesta-takers’ voice memos, and the community that formed around it. I’m now writing and arranging this music with some of my favorite fellow musicians, and I will record and share it in 2026.

More than seven years in the making, this sculpture has been collaborative from the start. It would not exist without the generosity of countless friends, family members, colleagues, mentors, and assistants. I name many of them below, but am indebted to many more.

The work would not have found its first home without Wave Hill. Thank you to Rachel Raphaela Gugelberger, Curator of Visual Arts; Afriti Bankwalla, Curatorial Administrative Assistant; Gabriel de Guzman, Director of Arts & Chief Curator; and review panelists Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles Morel and Jordany Genao. Thank you, Rain Sanfiorenzo, Ming-jer Kuo, and Jake Alfieri for making the installation fun and smooth. Thank you to Wave Hill for the photography of Stefan Hagen, and also thank you to our photographer friends: Toni Pouy, Anastasia Song, and Rain Sanfiorenzo.

Thank you also to my Sunroom colleagues, whose art made the year so meaningful at Wave Hill: fellow artists Ye Zhu, Angel Nevare, and Valerie Tevere; Weihui Lu; sTo Len; Joyce Yu-Jean Lee; Melinda Kiefer Santiago; Magdalena Dukiewicz; Caroline Garcia; Jennifer Tobias; Monica Duncan; Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya; and Sonja John.

The 2024 Bronx Cultural Visions Fund generously supported concept development. Thank you, Brian Lee, Tracey O’Reilly, Guadalupe Ambrosio, Viviana Bianchi, Yeline Del Carmen, Alejandra Delfin, Jesús López-Jensen, Anna Matos, Chanelle Aponte Pearson, Alexis Marie Montoya, Michelle Fizer Peterson, Lucia Warck-Meister, Charles Rice-Gonzalez, Aminah Abdul-Majeed, Shannon Hartley, Leenda Bonilla, Alexander Campos, Cathy M. Kaplan, Eileen Newman, Lisa Sorin, Rhina Valentin, Shereen Briggs, and Jean Tatge.

With the New York Public Library – Spuyten Duyvil branch and An Beal Bocht Cafe, I was fortunate to find free-range action art research sites for my concept-development work, and they continue to be a source of wisdom. I am grateful to be an exhibiting artist at An Beal Bocht Cafe. Thank you, Cass. I am thankful to have had the chance to offer a hand-portrait workshop at the NYPL, which informed the sculpture’s decoupage for Wave Hill. Thank you, Aga.

*** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ***
WAVE HILL SUNROOM PROJECT SPACE GLYNDOR TERRACE GARDEN
Presents
You’re Soaking in It!
A Participatory Sculpture and Live Performance by SuRan Song & William M. Weis III
May 31 – September 15, 2025
Read Press Release

You’re Soaking in It!

This sculpture transforms dreams and images into actuality. Directions for use:
Set Intention. (If you need help refining, listen to the tracks the artist SuRan has made for you.)
Lie down.
Nap.

• Meditation inspired by Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor (15 min) by Suran Song
• Chant of the Proem of Parmenides in Ancient Greek hexameter utilizing the pronunciation system of Erasmus (4 min) by Suran Song
• Reflection on dependent origination (11 min) by Suran Song
• 5 Senses Meditation (12 min) by Amy Lee Pearsall
• Loving Kindness Meditation (12 min) by Amy Lee Pearsall

You have reclined and rested. Memories, images, and imaginings have been stirred—and we invite you to contribute them to this archive. Through it, we remain connected.

We are composers and performers known for genre-blurring concerts, sidewalk video projections, and hand-screened art objects. Our work draws on ancient and classical texts, punk performance, and grassroots activism. This work marks a pivotal step in our shift from an art practice to an activist one.

Through this gathering of odes, your words and ours will form a collective lyric—capturing inner lives and dreams, a chorus of consciousnesses drawn into polyphonic unison.

Within You’re Soaking in It!, you awaken and reactivate shared imagination—one that only becomes possible in public, collective space, beyond the private, domestic, and exclusive. This sculpture confronts the urgent issue of sleep as a biological necessity. We were alarmed by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Johnson v. City of Grants Pass, which criminalizes sleeping in public for people without housing. This ruling is a form of statutory gaslighting. It undermines our civic sense of necessity and denies the realities of our bodies.

By dreaming and composing in public, we can reset the flow of imagination and what is possible. Your odes will be interpolated and performed for you and for others.

SuRan Song & William M. Weis III – Artists’ Duo Bio

Suran Song and William M. Weis III explore a variety of media, including sculpture, performance, music, painting, collage, assemblage, and photography. Their collaborative work has gained attention through performance art rock concerts, and they are now excited to present their open edition of You’re Soaking in It!, a participatory public sculpture.

The inaugural launch of You’re Soaking in It! takes place from May 31 to September 15, 2025, at the Wave Hill Sunroom Project Space in Glyndor Terrace Garden. The sculpture is a transforming garden siesta daybed that unfolds into a platform stage, serving as a participatory performance artwork centered on siesta dreams in the public garden during the summer.

There will be two featured Meet-the-Artists programs: on Sunday, July 13th, and Saturday, August 4th, both at noon, during which the artists will perform a special live performance.

You’re Soaking in It! explores the ethical implications of prohibiting sleep in public and draws inspiration from the texts of the Ancient Greek philosopher Parmenides, chanted in hexameter by SuRan and available as an mp3 on this page. Also available on this page are selected readings of Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissenting opinion in the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Grants Pass case.

Artists’ Statement

After we made our performance art rock video “Eat Cake,” we focused on political activism stemming from our disillusionment with the Iraq war, based on the lie that Iraq had yellowcake uranium.

We also undertook a study of Philosophy to determine why our leaders’ lies continue to be effective in moving us, as citizens, to war and to dehumanize one another.

Now, this sculpture highlights the critical issue of sleep as a biological necessity by reading the recent Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) decision that criminalizes sleeping for people without housing.

This ruling represents a form of statutory gaslighting, undermining our civic sense of necessity and the reality of our human bodies.

Such a lie not only dehumanizes those without housing, but it also fosters societal nihilism and erodes our civic trust because it denies reality and redefines the body’s needs as only what is legislated.

Living under such untruthful laws, we quickly slide into civic inverted credulity, the opposite of skepticism, which causes us to be unable to recognize truth even when it is happening, because everything is perceived as “fake news.”

So, we woke up and decided to create a sculptural context for sleeping and dreaming in public.

We are actively seeking the next site for our project, eager to identify the pertinent location that aligns with our vision. Our anticipation for this opportunity to explore new possibilities in the next iteration of our open edition fuels our art!

You’re Soaking in It!

Drawing inspiration from the timeless wisdom of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor and the Ancient Greek philosopher Parmenides, the artists invite you to explore the transformative power of collective dreaming and how it shapes our everyday realities.

Photo: Anastasia Song

SuRan Song & William M. Weis III, installation view of You’re Soaking in It at Wave Hill Glyndor Terrace Garden, 2025

The daybed mode concept is scaled for an unhoused child. The number of unhoused children in the U.S. increased by 33% last year.

The materials used — door hinges, house paint, and plywood — bring into relief the states of being housed and unhoused, underscoring Justice Sotomayor’s dissent in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson.

The Supreme Court Ruled That It’s OK to Criminalize Sleeping While Homeless (slate.com)

Selected Excerpts from Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s Dissenting Opinion on City of Grants Pass vs. Johnson

Download the complete SCOTUS ruling on sleeping in public here.

The form of the sculpture is inspired by Ancient Greek furniture and Korean pagodas. The dreamwork comes from the text of Parmenides, an Ancient Greek philosopher, lawmaker, Priest of Apollo, and poet, credited with inventing the scientific method and asserting that reason originates from the domain of dreams, while critiquing the ways pure reason can create untruth and nihilism.

In his poem “On Nature,” Parmenides showcases the alternating keys of consciousness that hinge light and night. We built the hinged roof to open and close in response to his vision and the sun’s rays. Also, the curve of the lip of the fountain at Glyndor Terrace informed the shape of the cut-out windows in the hinged roof, allowing light to pass through.

Let’s Start a Siesta Movement (observer-reporter.com)

Credits, Thanks & Dedications

Sculpture Concept & Design: SuRan Song – Principal, William M. Weis III – Associate
Fabricators: SuRan Song, William M. Weis III
Consultants: Antonio Torres, Alejandro Cosme, Rodrigo Rosas, and William M. Weis, Jr.
Cases and canopy: Allison Lince-Bentley, Sewing Teacher, Tailor, Tilden House Studio
Art Handlers: Jake Alfieri, Rain Sanfiorenzo, Ming-Jer Kuo
Press release, QR Code intake format and copy consultant: Yasmeen Siddiqui

Our supporters: WE THANK YOU!

• To our family: thank you for your unwavering support and encouragement! JoAnn Weis, William M. Weis, Jr., Robert Weis, Pam Weis, Michael Weis, Kate Weis, Susan Flanagan, Anastasia Song, and Marika Song. Special thanks to Yia Yia, Halabeoji, and G-ram.
• To Doug McEachern, Caitlin Seward, and Blood Boy for the very helpful studio visits. To Matt Dillon for the soothing influence.
• To the Bronx Council on the Arts Grant for the 2024 Bronx Cultural Visions Fund for Concept Development. Special thanks to Viviana Bianchi, Jesús López-Jensen, Lucia Warck-Meister, Michelle F. Peterson, and Brian Hyunsuk Lee.
• To An Beal Bocht Cafe for their generosity and involvement in providing a dining shed as the research site for our concept development. Special thanks to Caitlin Seward, Cass, and Blood Boy.
• To Antonio Torres, Alejandro Cosme, and Rodrigo Rosas for their very kind generosity with technical support and fabrication consultation.
• To Rachel Raphaela Gugelberger, Afriti Bankwalla, and Gabriel de Guzman for making the sculpture possible with the Wave Hill Glyndor House Sunroom Project Space at Glyndor Terrace Garden, and thank you also to Nicolás Dumit Estévez, Raful Espejo Ovalles, and Jordany Genao for seeing merit in this project.
• To Jake Alfieri, Rain Sanfiorenzo, and Ming-Jer Kuo for their soothing influence and hard work during our installation.

And thank you to everyone who believed in You’re Soaking in It! and contributed to making our participatory sculpture a reality!

Our Dedications:

This work is dedicated to Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who inspired us with her dissenting opinion in The City of Grants Pass vs. Johnson. We are so grateful for her exemplary empathy, vision, and voice.

We also want to dedicate our sculpture to our teachers of art, Ancient Greek, and meditation: Thomas Stearns, Lily Yeh, Jackie Brookner, Richard Van Buren, Ellen Fisher, Mirjam Kotwick, Gwenda-lin Grewal, Mariano Del Rosario, Susanne Chakan, and Nancy Chunn.

We thank ALL our participants who have contributed recordings through the project QR Code. Those who have indicated that they do not wish to remain anonymous are:

Doug McEachern – 8 words of kindness: commuters gather around confused tourists decoding subway maps
Gina Minichino – 8 words of kindness: drivers wait patiently while geese cross the road
Amy Lee Pearsall
Yafhnet Solognier
Talivia Katzllahan
Shookeez
Esteban Fuertes
Adeyinka Bello
Mason Abeleff
Ayde Rayas
Sis Val ❤️
Cecilia Donohoe
Jasmine & Grace
Jocelyn Russell
Melinda Kiefer Santiago – sounding board for QR Code welcome section copy. We also appreciate her kind words: “You’re Soaking in It!” is super reflective and generous. I love learning more about the historic and current references for the piece and how it relates to the garden! I love how it considers how collective dreaming shapes “realities.” So many thoughtful caring layers to discover and be inspired by. It’s great how it connects social reason to dreams and provides a space for community. I would also love to see more of these daybeds in public spaces.”

Credits updated regularly this summer as the participatory sculpture receives siesta text contributions at Wave Hill.

Copyright © 2025 SuRan Song Studio. All rights reserved.