There’s one thing deeply unsettling about strolling down a avenue and realizing the trail you simply stepped on is respiration.
However, in New York – a metropolis the place nothing shocks anybody anymore – a avenue efficiency artist named “Kevin Carpet” has raised eyebrows for forcing folks to do precisely that.
His artwork? Undetermined. His medium? Carpet.
It goes one thing like this: Wrapping himself in carpet and mendacity immobile in public areas, inviting strangers to stroll on him.
Some suppose it’s artwork, some suppose it’s a prank – and others simply suppose it’s extremely creepy.
Kevin isn’t any stranger to consideration. He has been within the “human carpet” enterprise because the 80s.
However his most up-to-date “exhibition” has reignited NYC’s oldest debate. Is Kevin Carpet simply plain outdated bizarre?
In a clip posted to social media, which has gathered over 3.5 million views, many branded it “perverted” and “sick.”
Kevin might be seen mendacity on the ground in broad daylight whereas unassuming pedestrians soar over or step on him. He may even be heard saying “ow” as a pair stroll over him.
The girl filming the video, NYC native Taylor Pare, reveals that Kevin has been “going around for years with his carpet, typically in the party scene.”
“What I don’t love about this is that it’s not consensual at all because nobody knows there’s a person in there,” she states within the TikTok video.
“It’s alarming. Someone could trip. If it’s a sexual desire or fetish it should be disclosed to all parties,” she provides.
Pare can then be heard warning two males who look hesitant to strategy the carpet.
“There’s a person in there,” she says.
“Is it like an art thing?” one man asks.
“No, they just like to be in carpets and not tell people about it,” she replies.
Viewers had been left divided over the scene with some even dubbing Kevin as “NYC clubbing royalty.”
“That’s Kevin Carpet!!! I used to go dance in Queens 10 years ago when he was in the scene. It’s amazing he’s still around,” mentioned one viewer.
“That’s just Kevin carpet,” mentioned one other unfazed particular person.
One viewer got here to the staunch protection of Kevin saying, “I actually find it pretty messed up that you’re subjecting him to online criticism – mind your business?”
Others weren’t so keen to brush the state of affairs beneath the rug.
“This isn’t even funny, this is genuinely strange,” mentioned one involved viewer.
“I’m so sick of perverted people,” echoed one other.
In an interview with The Lower in 2022, Kevin insisted his pastime was not a sexual fetish.
“This is not a fetish for me. I don’t get off on it,” he mentioned.
“It’s a Zen-type state. I’m feeling the people, hearing what they’re talking about. I’m looking down at everyone hanging out, and I just phase out of being a person.”
In a 2008 interview Woman Gaga raved a few “sex party” the place “there’s a lot of people hanging out, getting drunk, having a good time,” and “a guy wrapped in a carpet underneath the bar.”
