Wake by artist Mel Chin rises up from the plaza in Times Square "like the beached remains of a massive beast." The boat-like sculpture is modeled on the USS Nightingale, a 19th-century expedition and merchant clipper ship that transported coal, cotton, munitions, and tea, and was also used as a slaving vessel before being commandeered by the US Navy during the American Civil War. According to Chin, the USS Nightingale "crystallizes the ways in which the expanding economies of the past are prologue to our current societal and environmental dilemmas." The figurehead is of famous 19th century opera star Jenny Lind, known as the “Swedish Nightingale," whose likeness was featured on many ship prows in the New York harbor, including the USS Nightingale. Through the sculpture, Mel Chin opens "a physical and virtual gateway to the future of human existence, inviting participants to contemplate their place within the world’s transforming climate."