Artist Installs Tree Houses in Madison Square Park

A Manhattan park is getting a dozen tree houses perched high in its trees, courtesy of a Japanese artist known for his site-specific sculptural installations.

Tadashi Kawamata arrived at Madison Square Park yesterday to begin constructing the tree huts. Forklifts, boom lifts, table saws, power drills, and wood were spread around the 6.2-acre park just north of East 23rd Street between Fifth and Madison avenues.

Each of the huts, resembling a child's tree house, will be unique — and installed out of the public's reach.

The tree huts represent the artist's interest in how private objects in public spaces change the meaning of both.

Tree Huts is an artist-in-residency program of the Madison Square Park Conservancy. The exhibition opens October 2 and runs through December 31.

Mr. Kawamata's last New York City public installation, "Project on Roosevelt Island," was in 1992. For that artwork, the artist surrounded a derelict smallpox hospital on the island in the East River with a complex web of wood scaffolding.