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MTA inaugurates digital arts program with digital signage art installation

Artist Gabriel Barcia-Colombo's "New York Minute" offers in-depth look at city life at newly opened Fulton Center station.

November 11, 2014

New York City's MTA Arts & Design has announced the premiere of "New York Minute" by new media artist Gabriel Barcia-Colombo at the newly opened Fulton Center, marking the inauguration of Arts & Design's new digital arts program.

"New York Minute" is a large-scale 52-channel video installation on display through spring 2015 at the Fulton Center station complex and in its Dey Street pedestrian tunnel that connects to the R line. It is shown on 52 screens ranging from the 55-inch LCD screens that line the Dey Street concourse to LED walls, measuring 31.5 feet by 18.9 feet, on the street level.

"Fulton Center represents the future of the MTA, so we looked to technology that also would move Arts & Design into the future. A digital arts program gives us the opportunity to offer temporary art, to work with new digital artists and to produce art that engages our customers in a more immediate way," said Sandra Bloodworth, director of MTA Arts & Design, in the announcement. "Large-scale electronic displays like the one in Fulton Center open up a world of possibility for new media artists to connect with our customers, whether it's through a piece that makes them pause and smile or inspires a thought that stays with them on their journey."

Barcia-Colombo's installation features portraits of New Yorkers doing everyday activities in super slow motion and shows what else happens amid the frenetic pace of life in New York. It highlights the comical and sometimes poignant street interactions that help make New York unique, according to MTA. Its title refers to the hectic pace of New Yorkers' lives.

Through an arrangement with Westfield Properties, which manages Fulton Center on behalf of the MTA, all 52 videos air simultaneously for 30 seconds every 10 minutes, six times each hour. Viewers can watch a different sequence each time they walk past the installation space.

"Our customers will recognize themselves in these videos because they do the same kind of things — dancing, laughing, playing and embracing our children. This work creates a moment of bonding and sense of community that ties us to other people in the city," said Amy Hausmann, deputy director of MTA Arts & Design. "Gabe's work reminds us that we're not alone and that at any given moment in New York, there's always something else going on too."

Fulton Center opened yesterday to the public with a celebration marking the revival of lower Manhattan. It serves as a major transit hub and focal point destined to be a gathering place and landmark for future generations of New Yorkers, the MTA said.