Penelope Umbrico’s “Five Photographs of Rays of Sunlight in Grand Central Station, Grand Central Terminal . . .” collects iconic images of GCT (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex
Grand Central Terminal Shuttle Passage
Shuttle Passage next to the Station Masters’ Office
Open daily through July 7, free, 8:00/10:00 am – 6:00/8:00 pm
718-694-1600
www.mta.info
www.grandcentralterminal.com
Grand Central Terminal’s grand centennial celebration continues with the art exhibit “On Time / Grand Central at 100,” on view at the New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex through July 7. The display features painting, sculpture, video, photography, and poetry examining the historic structure, which was designed by the firms of Reed and Stern and Warren and Wetmore and preserved by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis when major changes were being planned. The exhibit opens with Lothar Osterburg’s “Zeppelins Docking in Grand Central,” the very cool model he built in order to make the art card “Grand Central” that can be found in many subway cars. “Lift up your eyes from the moving hive / and you will see time circling / under a vault of stars and know just when and where you are,” explains a new poem by former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins. Oliver Ayhens’s “Grand Central Inside Outside” cartoonishly twists the building. Alexander Chen’s “Conductor” reimagines the subway map as a musical composition. Jane Greengold’s “Lost and Found” consists of unclaimed items that have been collected by four generations of conductors from the Wenham family. Penelope Umbrico’s “Five Photographs of Rays of Sunlight in Grand Central Station, Grand Central Terminal . . .” brings together hundreds of versions from the internet of five iconic photos of sunlight streaming into GCT. Improv Everywhere’s short film “Frozen Grand Central” documents two minutes in 2008 when two hundred people suddenly came to a full stop inside the terminal, confusing and delighting everyone else. The exhibition also includes classic photographs by Paul Himmel, original MTA Arts for Transit prints by Marcos Chin, Sophie Blackall, Peter Sis, and Pop Chart Lab, Jim Campbell’s “Fundamental Interval (Commuters)” LED piece of shadowy figures moving through the terminal, and other works. And don’t miss Carolyn and Andy London’s five-minute video “Grand Central Diary,” shown in a corner outside the gallery annex, which takes actual conversations and animates them as if they’re being spoken by objects in and around Grand Central, from the clock itself to a mailbox, garbage cans, water fountains, benches, and more.