MAB20

Uptown Underground 2019, United States of America, New York

A geographically accurate view of the cityscape above a moving subway train, projected onto its ceiling, as it moves under New York City

What can a subway learn from a glass-bottom boat? A geographically accurate view of the cityscape above a moving subway train, projected onto its ceiling, as it moves under New York City. Implemented with four projectors connected to Raspberry Pi's, synchronized with offsets over a Peer-to-Peer WiFi network and informed by geolocation and acceleration data from a cellphone, all on battery power. On a trip to Florida, a friend convinced me to take a glass-bottom boat tour. I became fascinated by the reeds, the fish, the dark depths, all the context to which I now had a portal. A few days later, back in New York and riding the subway, I realized that here too I was missing so much context of moving through the city, the fantastic experience of looking up and around at all the buildings that we locals so take for granted. How might I pull back the ceiling off a subway car and bring the experience of moving through the city down into the train? Installed, without permission, on a moving 6 Train from Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall to 96th Street. Implemented with four projectors connected to Raspberry Pi’s, synchronized with offsets over a P2P WiFi network and informed by geolocation and acceleration data from a cellphone, all on battery power.

https://www.iancallender.net/ic/#work-subway

https://vimeo.com/iancallender/uptownunderground

https://vimeo.com/iancallender/uusituating

Details

Team members : Ian Callender

Partners : Documentation video production: Scott Zaretsky (dir.), Daniel Ornitz (dir.), Marcus Odom (cinem.), Matthew Lesko (ed.)

Descriptions

Credits

Ian Callender