MTA Arts & Design, formerly known asMetropolitan Transportation Authority Arts for Transit andArts for Transit and Urban Design,[1] is a commissioned art program directed by theMetropolitan Transportation Authority for the transportation systems servingNew York City and thesurrounding region. Since 1985, the program has installed art in more than 260 transit stations.[2] The art is intended to be site-specific and to improve the journey for New Yorkers and visitors alike.
MTA Arts & Design has works commissioned by over 300 artists, with entries in graphic art, photography installations, digital art,Music Under New York, Poetry in Motion, and special events.
Whenthe first line of what is now theNew York City Subway opened in 1904, its founders declared that the railway was a "great public work" where every design element should show respect for customers and improve the experience of travel through beauty and efficiency.[3] MTA Arts & Design was created in 1985 when the MTA began to reverseyears of decline by rehabilitating and renewing the transit system.[2]
The commissioning of original artwork was intended to show riders that the system values their comfort and experience within stations. Works use durable materials likeceramic tile andmosaic,bronze,stainless steel,glass andlight. MTA Arts & Design also plays an important role in design elements and architecture within passenger stations as well as industrial design elements and subway car design.
The Percent for Art projects link people to places with art that echoes the architectural or cultural history,urban design and community context of stations. The identity ofNew York City and its subway system is connected to the permanent artwork in the stations. The collection of work serves as the city's underground art museum and represents its vitality, energy and diversity.[4] Most of the art issite-specific.[5][6]
Artists are chosen through a competitive process with selection panels composed of visual-arts professionals. They review artists’ previous work, choose finalists who produce site-specific proposals, and then reconvene to select artist proposals for the given project(s). Community representatives are invited to attend the meetings and provide input. Artist opportunities are posted on the A&D website and announced throughsocial media and local arts organizations.[7]
Notable artists commissioned through the program includeXenobia Bailey,Romare Bearden,Vito Acconci,Priscila De Carvalho,Jacob Lawrence, Ellen Harvey,Sol LeWitt,Roy Lichtenstein,Jack Beal,Elizabeth Murray,Faith Ringgold,Duke Riley,Shinique Smith,Nancy Spero,Doug and Mike Starn andTom Otterness'Life Underground.[8]
The January 1, 2017,opening of theSecond Avenue Subway Phase 1 stations (72nd Street,86th Street, and96th Street as well as new renovation ofLexington Avenue–63rd Street) added permanent installations byVik Muniz,Chuck Close,Sarah Sze, andJean Shin to the Arts & Design collection.[9] Stations renovated as part of theEnhanced Station Initiative in 2017–2019 also received new or expanded artwork during their renovations.[10]
As of 2015, more than 100 projects were underway, includingAnn Hamilton's artwork for the newCortlandt Street station.[11] Another notable work,Sky Reflector-Net, was installed in 2014 in the then-newFulton Center headhouse. It uses hundreds of aluminum mirrors to provide natural sunlight from a 53-footskylight to an underground area as much as four stories deep.[12] This is the first intentional skylight in the New York City Subway system since the 1945 closure of the originalCity Hall station.[13]
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