Geoffrey follows the Twitter feed of performance artist Nate Hill. As part of his “Best Art Show 2011″ project, Nate is known for Tweeting a specific location, at which he will show up at a predetermined time and share his latest inspired performance with the unsuspecting people of NYC. Gonzo! As a prelude to our semi-regular Thursday night art crawl, Geoffrey suggested that we meet up at the corner of Barclay and Broadway, just outside City Hall Park, at 5:30 PM, where Nate would show up as “Punch Me Panda.” Neither one of us had any idea what this meant, but we agreed it would be a fun surprise.

At 5:30 PM sharp, Geoffrey called out to me, “I see the Panda,” which was our signal to stake out a safe vantage point to observe the action as Nate-Dressed-as Panda strutted around the vicinity and enthusiastically invited passersby to punch him in the gut (as you can see by the photo above, he was well padded for this activity). The results were both frightening and hilarious, as confused folks just trying to get home from a day at the office either obliged Nate with a few impromptu punches, hurried past as if a six-foot tall Panda were invisible or ran away in terror! Happy Fun! The entire performance lasted about 15 minutes and was completely amazing.

After Nate’s “performance,” Geoffrey chased him down the street so he could get a picture for his blog. I caught up with them a couple of blocks away and was able to meet Nate sans Panda head and tell him how much I enjoyed his art. He was really nice! Good luck Nate on your next adventure on the streets of New York. Follow Nate Hill on Twitter @nateXhill.

See the video that Geoffrey shot below:

Direct Link is HERE (as the embedded video seems to keep disappearing)