At 2:35pm on October 27, 1904, New York City's original underground subway, the Interborough Rapid Transit (I.R.T.), had its inaugural run. The 9.1 mile line stopped at 28 stations, heading north from City Hall to Grand Central Station, then west to 42nd Street and Broadway (now Times Square) and up to 145th Street and Broadway in Harlem. Chris Sickels' (@rednosestudio) stop-motion animation was based on his 2015 art card "The Blowing Bowler," and set in the original 1904 City Hall Station, where the subway’s opening ceremony took place. “The Blowing Bowler” animation (which #MTAArts displayed in 2015 on Fulton Center's 52 channel screens), depicts a brief history of New York City’s subway car designs as a man pursues his wind-tossed bowler hat in a subway station. As the man follows his hat down a tunnel, a progression of subway cars from over the years roll by.
To create this animation, Sickels created a dioramic model from wood, clay, fabric, wire, cardboard, and found objects, then painstakingly filmed each motion as a frame for the animation. In the artist’s words, “We are all chasing something, maybe the chase is more important than the catch. I encourage folks to enjoy the journey.”
Happy 117th Birthday to the #NYCsubway!