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Comments (15)
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Save/ShareThe New York City subway system has a lot of interesting art. But as far as I'm aware, there's only one artwork inside one of the tunnels: Bill Brand's Masstransiscope, which was recently restored to its 1980s glory.
If you ride the B or Q trains from the DeKalb Avenue stop in Brooklyn towards Manhattan, look for this artwork out the right side of the train. Through a series of openings in the wall, you'll see images that, when the train is moving, appear to be moving also. You can get a sense of it in this video.
Brand, a professor of film and photography, says of the work that he "started thinking about it in grad school in Chicago while riding the L, looking out the window of the train and thinking about early cinema." Masstransiscope works on the same principle as a zoetrope, which is a spinning tube with slits cut out that is lined with pictures. You watch the images through the slits, which keep the images from just blurring together—so basically, a zoetrope is a simple movie.
The B and the Q are often slowed or stopped beside the work because of a signal just ahead, but Brand says, "I built that into the idea for the piece. It breaks the illusion."
Now I'm wondering: What other cities have great subway art, in either the stations or the tunnels?
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This is quite a timely subject for me. Just this weekend my wife and I rode the NYC subway and I pointed out to her that the current public artwork on the train was much more interesting then in the past. These are the small 8 * 42 inch or so "art cars" on the inside of the train.
For some reason the artwork from previous years did not pull me in as much. The current card by Philippe Lechien pulled me in the most since it melds the subway across window/fire escape views from throughout the city. Along the general "feel" of this this year's style I believe I like them more because they are more inclusive of the entire city versus say the 2007 artwork that is a Coney Island like scene.
The NYC subway art cards - including previous years - can be found at: http://www.mta.info/mta/aft/posters/artcards.html
Posted By Iolaire McFadden on December 29, 2008, 3:10 PM
Do you want a picture of some wild wall art in the London underground?
Posted By Windy Beech on December 30, 2008, 12:18 AM
Wendy, I would like to see some London art. Do you have a link? If you want to share your own photos, you could upload them to a myBudgetTravel account and then post the link here in the comments. I'm sure people would like to see them.
Forgot to mention that the St. Petersburg and Moscow subway systems have amazing art.
Iolaire, thanks for the link. The one I really like this year is the flying fish car.
Posted By Thomas Berger on December 30, 2008, 12:57 PM
In either the College Park or East Point MARTA station in Atlanta, there's some great art on the area between the train and the exterior walls, but inside the station... I remember seeing it as a child whenever we got to take MARTA anywhere as a kid. Some of the other stations have some art in them, but most are just SO HUGE that they could be considered art itself!
Posted By Jessidork on December 31, 2008, 12:04 PM
I just saw the same Masstransiscope artwork from the BART train in the San Fransisco Bay Area!
Posted By Crystal on December 31, 2008, 1:03 PM
The Boston's Kendall Square/MIT stop on the Red Line in Boston has a musical sculpture that you can play while you're waiting.
Posted By Diane on December 31, 2008, 5:33 PM
London has some really nice art on the underground like the Gloucester Road, Tottenham Court Road, and Charing Cross stations.
Posted By Frances on December 31, 2008, 9:55 PM
it was so long ago now, but when i was in Paris as a 15 year old, i was so impressed by the painted stairwell leading down to the metro platform. it was like you were descending beneath the ocean, all swirls of blues and greens as the staircase spiraled down. i can still picture it vividly, although i totally forget what station it was!! sorry. i might be able to find my picture of it . . .
Posted By Erin on January 1, 2009, 8:55 AM
Pittsburgh has a little-known but impressive art gem... a $15 million ceramic tile mural by Romare Bearden. It's at the Gateway Center station of this one mile-long underground system, possibly the shortest subway in North America. The mural is huge (60 feet by 13 feet) and is slated for restoration and removal in 2009, so check before making the trek. It's classic Bearden style and depicts the history of Pittsburgh, PA.
Posted By PAM on January 1, 2009, 9:45 AM
The website for all New York subway and rail art is: www.mta.info/mta/aft
Posted By reg on January 3, 2009, 11:15 AM
The most impressive art that I have ever seen in subways, is in Moscow. Several years ago, the Russian government went all-out to make the various stations unique. I am not sure if I was most impressed with the one full of statues and Soviet propaganda, or the one like a cathedral full of arches and stained glass.
Posted By Karen on January 3, 2009, 11:55 PM
The Montreal subway and underground city is well-known for its art. Here's a picture I took there of a large stained-glass piece over the subway:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jledwell/2774760221/in/set-72157606814644805/
Posted By Joshua Ledwell on January 4, 2009, 10:39 AM
Links to Flickr images of two of the artworks people mentioned in comments above. And thanks for your picture, Joshua; it's a great shot!
Part of the Kendall Band in Boston, by Paul Matisse
Pittsburgh Recollections in Pittsburgh, by Romare Bearden
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