Navin Production’s artistic sortie to the Big Apple resulted in the huge I ♥ TAXI billboard at Times Square, while the downtown Madison Square Park element of I ♥ TAXI was a Public Art Fund sponsored initiative called Target Art in the Park, aimed at revitalizing one of New York’s public green enclaves. Navin Production suspended five tents fabricated in the shape of old-style yellow taxis three-metres up in the air with their undersides painted with characters and scenes from the mythic Taximan journey to the home of the yellow cab. A decorated hotdog stand was set up nearby for leisurely perusal with the benches dressed in black and yellow checks and backed by striking cityscapes.

Keen to engage the community, the I ♥ TAXI Café at Long Island’s P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center centred round a series of activities requiring cab driver participation, including a half hour radio broadcast in collaboration with city’s Taxi Radio station. The installation included Navin Production’s taxi comics and furniture made from recycled tires as well as visual documentation on taxi projects that had taken place in various countries. Taxi drivers were also given preferential treatment at P.S.1, with free entry and coffee.

Skimming the sheets of Navin Production’s I ♥ TAXI comic, reveals a diverse group of characters such as, Wa Shing Ka, No Pah King, Jose Amor and the poems of driver-cum-writer Robert Scott. The 100,000 copies of the comic were intended for distribution in 200 customised yellow cabs but unfortunately this was vetoed by a city officer just few days before the project kicked off. The prototype of the New York Taxi Gallery was parked up as evidence at the Madison Square Park during the exhibition period.

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