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“Whitney On The Rails” Rides to the Transit Museum

For one day, budding transit artists expressed themselves using the museum as a platform for a ticket of creativity.

| 23 Aug 2024 | 11:53
    A happy participant has finished his work for the day on July 27. A day of special art making project at Brooklyn’s New York Transit Museum was a resounding success for all ages who spent the afternoon creating transit-focused images on paper.
    A happy participant has finished his work for the day on July 27. A day of special art making project at Brooklyn’s New York Transit Museum was a resounding success for all ages who spent the afternoon creating transit-focused images on paper. ( Photo: Nora Gomez-Strauss/Whitney Museum)
    On a hot July weekend afternoon, a group of teenagers participate in the joint Whitney/Transit Museum art creation project; as they made art, signs from many different eras highlight their workspace.
    On a hot July weekend afternoon, a group of teenagers participate in the joint Whitney/Transit Museum art creation project; as they made art, signs from many different eras highlight their workspace. ( Photo: Nora Gomez-Strauss/Whitney Museum)
    A happy family spent some time at the Transit Museum at a program in cooperation with the Whitney Muaeum, as part of their Biennial, which ended on August 11. The images that were made reflect various facets of NY’s transit history.
    A happy family spent some time at the Transit Museum at a program in cooperation with the Whitney Muaeum, as part of their Biennial, which ended on August 11. The images that were made reflect various facets of NY’s transit history. ( Photo: Nora Gomez-Strauss/Whitney Museum)
    Moving from the Whitney Museum, pictured here, on Manhattan’s Gansevoort St., “Whitney Rides the Rails” enabled budding artists of all ages to travel to the Transit Museum in Brooklyn on July 29. A cooperative effort by both museums, it offered an unusual opportunity for artmaking. This event was part of the Whitney Museum’s efforts to bring contemporary American art and artists outside its galleries and directly to New Yorkers.
    Moving from the Whitney Museum, pictured here, on Manhattan’s Gansevoort St., “Whitney Rides the Rails” enabled budding artists of all ages to travel to the Transit Museum in Brooklyn on July 29. A cooperative effort by both museums, it offered an unusual opportunity for artmaking. This event was part of the Whitney Museum’s efforts to bring contemporary American art and artists outside its galleries and directly to New Yorkers. ( Photo: Ralph Spielman)

This year, the Whitney Museum ventured out of its Gansevoort St. galleries and into the boroughs to celebrate the 2024 Whitney Biennial, it’s 81st event of this kind

In May, The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced the partnership with the Whitney Museum of American Art to bring the Whitney Biennial into the subway system. In-station art-making activities during this summer was combined with showcasing work by past and present Biennial artists, part of the MTA’s program to bring arts and culture to former retail spaces and art-making to outer-borough venues

“Working with the Whitney and other organizations is an opportunity to build cultural and community connections and enliven stations with special installations and events,” said MTA Arts & Design Director Sandra Bloodworth, when she unveiled the collaboration in May.

Brooklyn was the third stop on “Whitney On The Rails,” the Museum’s partnership with the MTA to bring art, artmaking, and the Biennial to New Yorkers.

Two previous Rails activities at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx and Union Square station in Manhattan marked this year’s Whitney outreach to all New Yorkers.

For four hours on July 27 at the largest United States museum devoted to urban public transportation history saw scores of artists flock to the over 40-year old underground space for a special artmaking project inspired by the Whitney Biennial, which ended its five-month long exhibition on close on August 11.

The collaborative approach on the 27th? Create colorful signs and sticker tile images.

At the Transit Museum, the drawing inspiration came from a few of artist Jane Dickson’s vibrant pieces. Save Time (2020), Fascination Sign 1 (2020), and, notably, Revelers (2008), her mosaic artwork on the mezzanine at Times Sq-42 St station, which consists of approximately 70 expressive life-size figures, each in motion.

Through the Whitney’s partnership with the MTA, a large-scale vinyl installation of Dickson’s Save Time is currently installed on the facade of a former retail space at the W. 4th St. station; Dickson’s paintings were also featured in the 2022 Biennial,

NY subway stations that include artworks by Biennial artists as part of the MTA Arts & Design program, and much more. The map includes a side-by-side comparison of Times Square featuring the view from Dickson’s 43rd street apartment in Manhattan in 1981 and a present-day photograph from the same vantage point, along with many more then-and-now pairings throughout the city.

With the art created at the event, who knows what artist will emerge, be exhibited, and demand commanding gallery prices later in his or her life? The Transit Museum and the Whitney Museum have created what should be another event that New Yorkers of all ages can look forward to participating in.

Deputy Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art I.D. Arued noted: “This collaboration is part of the Museum’s ongoing commitment to making the work of contemporary American artists more accessible and forwards our mission of celebrating artists and creativity.”