Before setting out on this new project, New York City-based artist and designer Ian Callender asked himself the question: How might it be possible to restore a connection to urban context and an awareness of movement through the city?
His answer came in the shape of the Uptown Underground, an art installation that projects a geographically accurate view of the cityscape above a moving subway car onto its ceiling as it moves under New York City. It was installed, without permission, on a series of moving subway wagons from Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall to 96th Street stations, a roughly 6 mile/25-minute loop along the East Side of Manhattan.
The experience of riding the subway is marked by detachment: in the moments between stations, all urban context is stripped away, replaced with darkness or the occasional flash of a light. The project thus takes inspiration from the glass-bottom boat, where access is granted to the reeds, the fish, and the dark depths normally inaccessible. Imagining seeing through the ceiling to the street with such a dynamic perspective offers a restored connection with (and a newfound contextualization within) the city.
Read more about the project here:
Finalist, 10th Annual A+Awards, Architecture +New Technology
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