a bright point
Nov. 11th, 2008 07:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kjpepperSo Andee, you may ask, what the hell is that icon?
The icon is the first half of an art piece called Masstransiscope. The animation is painted on big panels behind a wall with slits cut in it, and the piece animates to the viewers inside passing subway trains. It was installed on the remaining platform of the Myrtle Avenue station just past DeKalb Avenue on the Manhattan side, between the station and the bridge. It was a startling, colorful surprise in a long dark boring tunnel for commuters in the morning, including myself shuttling back and forth to UNIS every day for 11 years.
Unfortunately, it being in an abandoned station and relatively accessible, it's been graffiti-bombed several times since its installation in 1980, so I remember long periods of my life where the piece was so damaged that the MTA said fuck it and turned the lights off, and then people would forget about it for years. And then lo and behold someone would make a donation, the piece would be hosed down, and the lights restored and there it was, surprising train riders again. (Luckily for all involved, some smart person thought to get the piece coated with a graffiti resistant layer of something.)
So yeah, it's back. They actually took the entire piece apart, cleaned it up, had the original artist retouch or redo some of the panels (Hampshire student, btw) replaced all the lights, and put it back together, and apparently yesterday morning they turned it back on in time for the morning rush hour. Good to see that it'll surprise and delight another round of kids and suits, hopefully for another 28 years.
The icon is the first half of an art piece called Masstransiscope. The animation is painted on big panels behind a wall with slits cut in it, and the piece animates to the viewers inside passing subway trains. It was installed on the remaining platform of the Myrtle Avenue station just past DeKalb Avenue on the Manhattan side, between the station and the bridge. It was a startling, colorful surprise in a long dark boring tunnel for commuters in the morning, including myself shuttling back and forth to UNIS every day for 11 years.
Unfortunately, it being in an abandoned station and relatively accessible, it's been graffiti-bombed several times since its installation in 1980, so I remember long periods of my life where the piece was so damaged that the MTA said fuck it and turned the lights off, and then people would forget about it for years. And then lo and behold someone would make a donation, the piece would be hosed down, and the lights restored and there it was, surprising train riders again. (Luckily for all involved, some smart person thought to get the piece coated with a graffiti resistant layer of something.)
So yeah, it's back. They actually took the entire piece apart, cleaned it up, had the original artist retouch or redo some of the panels (Hampshire student, btw) replaced all the lights, and put it back together, and apparently yesterday morning they turned it back on in time for the morning rush hour. Good to see that it'll surprise and delight another round of kids and suits, hopefully for another 28 years.
