Let Us Now Praise Great Achievements!! - Pt 2

Although the new entrance to the 1 train will now make ferry commuters have to step outside to get the train uptown (the temporary entrance was right in the ferry terminal and was a blessing on foul weathered days), the two or three steps one has to take becomes well worth it as you descend to the the mezzanine level, where Doug & Mike Starn have done an incredible installation, See It Split, See It Change. A site-specific installation commissioned by the MTA, the work encompasses the entire mezzanine level. Huge photo murals of the the silhouettes of trees in Battery Park festoon the walls behind the turnstiles, as well as a historic map of lower Manhattan and an enormous image of a leaf. The Starn brothers have been pursuing an almost mythic quest: translating the transmogrification of light to energy to thought into a visual set of key images. And having a three dimensional stage to present their ideas in works tremendously to their advantage. Not only do we get ceiling-to-floor black-and-white photo-murals of the tree branches of Battery Park, but we also have these patterns mirrored and overlaid in the metalwork of the ticketing barrier walls which creates a neural networks of thick and thin lines in grey and black.

This magnificent photo-mural hangs over the stairwell to the 1 train. The image of a desiccated leaf, from the Starn's Black Pulse Lambda series, has become part of their leitmotifs in recent years. With the delicate image fused into large glass tiles, the fragile transparency of the degraded leaf matter is increased 10 fold, the veins echoing lines of a street or subway map.

Also visible upon entrance into the terminal is a gorgeous 20-foot wide floor-to-ceiling mosaic reproducing a historical map of Manhattan. Inspired by a map commissioned by the United States Census Bureau in 1886 that integrated a topographic map drawn in 1640 with a street plan from the Battery to 155th Street, the island’s original topography emerges ghost-like behind a more familiar diagram of the modern city. It is truly stunning!

The MTA has managed to make me want to take Public Transit more knowing that this quality of art awaits me upon alighting on the Isle of Manhatta!!