NYC’s art scene is going back underground — literally.
As the Big Apple’s subterranean newsstands, shoeshine parlors, barber shops and other vintage conveniences roll down their gates for the last time, the MTA has been experimenting with a creative way to fill the voids — with eye-catching installations.
Dubbed the Vacant Unit Activation program, which the agency said is aimed at making stations “more welcoming and whimsical spaces for riders,” a number of artists are being given a platform to show the world their stuff.
Mira Atherton, senior manager of MTA construction development, told The Post that the spaces had been determined as unfit for rental for a variety of reasons.
“These are often units … that are in old stations, typically ones that have been there for over a hundred years. They are funky shapes. They’re small, they have often a lot of utility issues,” she said. “They don’t have water or a waste line. They might be in stations that are not as well-trafficked.”
By giving drab corners a Gotham-style glow-up, Atherton said the agency aims not only to inspire riders, but also provide “affordable space for artists and nonprofits who often have trouble finding space.”
Since the 2023 inception of the project, run by the MTA Real Estate initiative, there have been 12 total activations — with eight running currently.
As a service to busy commuters, we’ve done the legwork and wrangled five stops to keep an eye out for.
The land before Time magazine
Real newsstands may be going the way of the triceratops, but any scaly straphangers waiting for the 2/3 at Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza station will find all their needs catered for at Rex’s Dino Store.
The newly opened spot, overseen by the eponymous 7-foot-tall T-Rex proprietor, offers up 50 punny primeval products — from copies of the Maul Street Journal and the Jurassic Park Slope Courier to Snarlboros and Three Tusketeers.
There’s even an appearance by the prehistoric doppelganger to New York’s favorite tabloid — The Pangaea Post. (On the cover — a tyrannosaur in handcuffs, with the headline: SMALL ARMS DEALER.)
“It’s a bodega for dinosaurs,” co-founder Akiva Leffert explained to The Post of the Rex-treme makeover — which he collaborated on with fellow creative and former stand-up comedian Sarah Cassidy.
“We were riffing on this idea of just old newsstand, really old newsstand. Really, really old new stand,” Leffert said. “And the jokes just kind of started writing themselves.”
The shop, which sits behind protective glass to keep it safe from modern-day marauders, reportedly took over a year to complete, including four months for Rex himself — he’s made of chicken wire covered in paper mâché — with ping-pong balls for the eyes.
In accordance with code, this was then fireproofed by certified professionals — to prevent any mass-extinction events.
How to train your subway performer
Between throngs of commuters, trains and soaring assaults, the subway platform can seem like a dangerous place for performers. As a service to buskers, nonprofit Art on the Ave NYC has established the Sound Booth, a music box on the 81st Street-Natural History Museum stop for local musicians to serenade passersby.
“It’s great because it gives them a relatively safe place to perform in the sense that they’re right close to the ticket office and right by the turnstiles,” Barbara Anderson, Executive Director of Art on the Ave NYC, told The Post. “And they can just go in there.”
Along with providing three walls, the Sound Booth is outfitted with speakers, amps and more so performers “don’t have to bring all of their equipment,” per Anderson. There’s even a musically inspired mural featuring Billie Holiday, The Beatles, a DJ and some tambourines.
Originally opened in June 2024, the installation was originally supposed to run for six months but they kept it going because it was such a hit, according to the Art on the Ave boss.
To date, the Sound Booth — which is open four days a week for three-hour slots — has attracted over 50 artists, including the famed “Saw Lady” Natalia Paruz; The Meetles (a Beatles cover band), an acapella group from Fordham University; a flute trio, DJs and the Motown singers, who cruise the subways most weekends.
Starting June 10, the installment will be home to a Sing For Hope Piano — artist-designed ivory boxes that are sprinkled around the city — marking the first time the nonprofit has had a piano in the subway system.
Calm in the storm
Finding solitude during a hectic commute can seem impossible at times. Fortunately, patrons of the proletariat chariot can grab a moment of quiet reflection with the serene “Nympheas Rouge: Reflections of Spring” installation located on the 53rd Street and Fifth Avenue E train downtown subway platform.
With the help of the MTA and ChaShaMa, a nonprofit that transforms derelict real estate into art spaces, artist Kathleen Marie Ryan converted this defunct newsstand into a 24-square-foot immersive display with her painting of waterlilies on three walls and a mirrored floor serving as a reflecting pool.
Coincidentally, the tranquil triptych, which took over a year to complete, is located just a block away from Monet’s water lilies at the Museum of Modern Art.
“After studying how people interact with art in museums, I wanted this microenvironment to give passersby a moment of calm and beauty in one of the most stressful parts of the city,” said Ryan. “A tourist from Sacramento said it felt ‘like a moment of calm in a storm.’”
In 2019, international researchers found that subterranean art installations can even help the depression and tension caused by subway spaces.
Thanks for the memories
East New Yorkers are bringing color to Brooklyn commuters’ day with a nostalgic wall montage featuring maps, historic photos and other memorabilia that pays tribute to the legendary neighborhood’s past.
The installation, called Memories Matter, was a community collaboration between local residents of all ages, the East New York Community Land Trust and the Center for Brooklyn History at the Brooklyn Public Library.
Along with map collages and floral displays, the display also features historical photographs of the neighborhood, as well as images from community newspapers and excerpts from interviews with local residents.
It’s a hot new track
The subway platform soundtrack is no longer screeching subway tracks and raving EDPs. Located at the Chambers Street metro station, Chamber Hum was created to restore the auditory balance by playing various experimental and ambient compositions — each of which run for one month — on a multichannel sound system.
This month’s buzzy track is reportedly inspired by a mysterious humming noise in Taos, New Mexico ,that’s reportedly only able to be heard by 2% of the town’s population.
In fact, the sound has even been blamed for insomnia dizziness and other symptoms, but here the version serves to create ear-quilibrium amid the metro carriage cacophony.
The installation is “active 23 hours each day, with a short break between the hours of 4AM and 5AM,” organizer WPZSCH writes on the site.
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