This Bathroom Isn’t Where You Think It Is

Would you take a bubble bath on the streets of Chelsea? Or snuggle into bed on a Lower East Side sidewalk? #Setinthestreet, a public-art project turned social-media phenomenon, delivers the (photo) opportunity to do just that.

For six months now, 23-year-old photographer Justin Bettman and 33-year-old prop stylist Gözde Eker have been collaborating on an ongoing installation series on the streets of New York City, featuring kitschy and quirky sets arranged to look just like the rooms you would ordinarily find inside a home. Crafted from unwanted, discarded furniture, the installations (which typically do not last for more than 24 to 48 hours on the streets before people snatch the items up) have included a bathroom with a turquoise clawfoot tub, a living room decorated with cacti and a mounted animal head, and a family room with a floral-printed love seat. From far away, it's an interesting juxtaposition of stylized interiors set against the grit of New York streets. And, it's even more interesting to see how easily reality can be distorted by the simple crop of a photograph.

We spoke to Bettman about the project, and compiled some of our favorite pics from the #setinthestreet series. Click through to see them — and maybe next time, it'll be your old couch that turns up in one of Bettman and Eker's installations.