2024-03-08 06:35:00
What is happening on the surface cannot be overlooked. Times Square in Midtown Manhattan, located at the intersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue, is vibrant day and night. New Yorkers walking quickly from uptown to downtown or from east to west circle around tourists who stand, marvel, linger and are overwhelmed.
But the world beneath this brightly lit mess is hardly less hectic. Times Square-42 St subway station is served by lines 1, 2, 3, 7 N, Q, R, W, S, and lines B, D, F via a connection to the 42 St/Bryant Park station and M reachable. Anyone who spends a whole day below the surface at this stop is guaranteed to see everyone they know in New York, says a not entirely serious but not entirely false saying about the goings-on on the five levels below Times Square .
It’s easy to lose orientation in these ant corridors. But if you’re not in a hurry, getting lost can be a worthwhile thing. Because the search for the right connection also leads into the world of wall mosaics and life-size figures, into the entrance hall of the museum underground, so to speak.
New York’s subway, as dilapidated and run-down as it appears in many places, displays art in abundance, more and more every year. This year, more than 350 of the 472 stops are included in the catalog, from the miniature bronze figures at the 14 St station to Roy Lichtenstein’s huge wall painting on porcelain in Times Square. 1.80 meters high and 16 meters wide, a bright yellow train that moves underground.
Road construction underground: Jack Beals’ “The Return of Spring/The Onset of Winter”, Station Times Square-42nd St from 2005: Image: Doris Henkel
The New York native’s work dates from 2002. Nick Cave’s brightly colored mosaics, on the other hand, are very current right next door in the connecting passage to Bryant Park: almost 430 square meters in size and therefore an unmistakable part of the renewal at New York’s busiest intersection. The artist called the three-part work “Each One, Every One, Equal All”, a message of the diversity of the metropolis, staged in glass and mosaic from the traditional Mayer’sche Hofkunstanstalt in Munich.
Image: FAZ
Anyone who has immersed themselves in the underground art world will soon no longer see the subway as just a way to get from A to B. It’s an inspiring smorgasbord, spread all over the city, constantly growing. Favorites include William Wegman’s Dogs on 23 St, eleven glass mosaics titled “Stationary Figures.” Weimaraners dressed like humans, in a red rain cape, a checked shirt, a yellow coat, waiting for the next train. Or Nancy Spero’s fine work “Artemis, Acrobats, Divas and Dancers” on the Upper West Side, matching the opera and ballet at Lincoln Center on the level above. Very close to Yoko Ono’s “Sky” on 72 St, blue sky with clouds and words. Remember. Dream. Imagine. Peace.
Some works you pass by ten times before you notice them by chance on the eleventh. The small murals by Janet Zweig and Edward Del Rosario on Prince St, silhouettes of people walking and carrying something. You have to look closely at Tom Otterness’ bronze figures on 14 St. They are barely 20 centimeters tall, most of them are placed on the ground and therefore easy to miss, an extremely funny and somehow down-to-earth collection of little people on the move.
New York’s subway is one of the oldest in the world, inaugurated in 1904. The Arts & Design program of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), North America’s largest transportation network, has been in existence since the mid-1980s. The company transported more than a billion passengers last year, significantly fewer than before the pandemic, but with an upward trend. No museum in the world can keep up with such numbers, and the admission price is definitely cheaper; A day ticket with the Metrocard costs $2.75 this year, a weekly ticket is available for $33.
Yellow paint on white porcelain: Roy Lichtenstein’s “Times Square Mural” at the Times Square-42nd St station from 1994. : Image: Doris Henkel
And the works don’t just hang on the walls. There is digital art, light installations like “Hive” by Leo Villareal on Bleecker St in the shape of a honeycomb, photographs, poems and decorations on the trains and more than 360 musicians and music groups whose stage is the platform. Every year in May the audition takes place in front of a committee. Whoever wins has a safe, dry workplace, well attended and with the inspiring prospect of reaching people who don’t go to concerts.
To travel through the MTA’s colorful network of art made of mosaic and metal, glass and terracotta, words and music, you don’t need a hat, stick or umbrella, just a little time. Discovering this world of art underground quickly becomes addictive, and recently it’s also easy to do it systematically. Bloomberg Connects, a free arts and culture app, has access to MTA Arts & Design with guided tours of the subway network and a list of works.
Image: Doris Henkel
But the story of your own world beneath the big city doesn’t end there. Studying people from all over the world on the platforms and in the trains – that’s always exciting. And even as you ponder under the rusting beams how long it would take to renovate everything from scratch, shapes and colors can be discovered. When beneath the rust layers of alloy flake off and suddenly turquoise and medium brown correspond in decay; That too has a touch of art, somehow.
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