Two weeks ago I was in Manhattan and decided to find the hidden Subway art:
“Masstransiscope.” Turns out it wasn’t hidden at all but as our Subway car drove past the 30 year old artwork, Nobody seemed to notice it, even with me holding my cell phone up to the window to record it. The experience is over in just a few second but it was really clever and got me thinking if it would be feasible to model the Masstransiscope in my layout Subway.
My video is below but if you haven’t heard of it before, here’s the short version: Artist Bill Brand's Masstransiscope was installed in the abandoned Myrtle Avenue subway station in Brooklyn, New York in September 1980. It consists of 228 hand-painted panels that are viewed through a series of vertical slits set into a specially constructed housing. It differs from a movie where the film passes through a projector while the audience sits still. For the Masstransiscope, the opposite is true: The images are stationary while the train moves the audience past the images. The piece works on the principle of the Zoetrope, a 19th century optical toy. Damaged by vandalism, MTA Arts for Transit restored it in the early '90s and then again recently following vandalism in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Masstransiscope can be seen through the right side windows of the Manhattan-bound B or Q train shortly after leaving the DeKalb Ave. Subway station.
If anyone has modeled this before, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Since I’m starting from scratch, I could really use any advice at all from forum members, regardless of whether you have tried this or not.
Emile
