On a warm August evening beneath the Manhattan Bridge, artist Asad Raza revealed an unusual urban installation: a small enclosure at the rear of a seafood restaurant filled with dozens of rats navigating sculptural forms designed specifically for them. This site, referred to by Raza as the “Hell Door,” is one of more than 20 locations across New York City where he and his team have installed what Raza describes as “public art for rats.”

Throughout the summer, Raza, along with fellow artists Devyn Gallindo, Kunming Huang, and Jared Packard, embarked on nightly expeditions across the city, transporting sculptures made of concrete, wood, and burlap in a rented minivan. Their route covered diverse urban environments—from the Lower East Side’s Seward Park and public housing complexes to walkways beneath the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, flowerbeds near the Natural History Museum, and the medians of Times Square.

The sculptures, constructed with guidance from animal behaviorist Michael Parsons and architects Mara Jovanović and Zaynab Eltaib of MIT, are designed based on the sensory needs and behaviors of rats. These nocturnal rodents rely heavily on thigmotaxis—the instinct to move in contact with solid surfaces—due to their poor vision and heightened sense of touch and smell. The artworks reflect this by incorporating textured, rugged surfaces and labyrinthine shapes that mimic “shattered bits of rubble,” providing rats with multiple entries, exits, and hiding places.

Materials such as concrete cast from molds of urban detritus, burlap, and wood were chosen for their tactile qualities and ability to retain scents, enhancing the sculptures’ appeal to the animals. Alongside the installations, the team set up trail cameras to capture footage of the rats exploring the forms. This documentation was reviewed nightly, allowing the artists to observe the rats’ interactions with the art as they navigated their urban habitat.

Raza’s interest in this project grew from a desire to extend the concept of art beyond human audiences and engage with the city’s often-overlooked animal residents. Initially prompted by an invitation to exhibit at Times, an alternative art space in downtown Manhattan, he sought to create work that acknowledged the ecological complexity of New York City. With an estimated rat population of around three million, Raza questioned what it would mean to make art accessible to non-human city dwellers.

In reflecting on his experience, Raza noted a shift in perception. Once conditioned by societal disdain toward rats, he came to regard them as “curious and circumspect creatures” living independent lives rather than simply pests. The project challenges conventional boundaries between species and prompts reconsideration of urban coexistence.

The culmination of the work, titled “thigmotaxis (the rat show),” is currently on view at Times Gallery in New York until December 12. The exhibition includes a selection of the sculptures arranged on the floor, an interactive, human-sized textured wall, and video footage showcasing the rats’ nocturnal engagement with the public art outside—a tribute, as Raza describes it, “a little bit of a love letter to New York.”