Has Someone Struck Oil In Times Square?

I was walking through Times Square last night and noticed something very odd; on an empty lot at the corner of 46th and 8th avenue there were what seemed to be two pump jacks of the kind usually found in Texas or Southern California pumping oil.  I wondered if maybe someone had struck black gold in the heart of the theatre district.  Or if a construction company was doing some sort of test drilling before the next massive skyscraper rose in the teeming neighborhood.

The answer to these questions came in this morning's New York TIMES, which reported that it was a temporary art installation.  The pumps, which will actually run eight hours a day, are the work of Josephine Meckseper, pictured above, who wants to get people thinking about oil, commerce and consumerism.  The exhibit is certainly well timed with spiking oil prices making headlines yet again.  It's just too bad they are not producing actual oil, which we could use apparently.  Meckseper's though-provoking "pumps" will be operating until May.