New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex
Grand Central Terminal Shuttle Passage
Shuttle Passage next to the Station Masters’ Office
Open daily through October 27, free, 8:00/10:00 am – 6:00/8:00 pm
718-694-1600
www.grandcentralterminal.com
The New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex concludes its yearlong celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of Grand Central Terminal with a gorgeous exhibit that looks to the future. In “The Next Level: East Side Access Photographs by Hiroyuki Suzuki,” the Japanese photographer documents the construction of the tunnel that will link the Long Island Rail Road’s Main and Port Washington lines to a new portal eighteen stories beneath Grand Central, a project now expected to cost more than eight billion dollars and that won’t be completed until 2019. Suzuki — not to be confused with the world yo-yo champion of the same name — is a short-story writer and fashion-show producer (his wife is designer Junko Koshino) who turned to photography in 2006, previously documenting such construction sites as the Metro in Dubai, a downtown Tokyo expressway, the Tokyo Gate Bridge, natural gas production facilities in Qatar, and the rebuilding following the Tohoku earthquake. Using a Nikon D90, Suzuki ventured far below the ground to capture stunning black-and-white images of long, dark passageways with small circles of light and puddles of water, sandhogs either hard at work or taking a break, complicated equipment, and other mesmerizing scenes. Weaving your way through the exhibit, which includes fifty-five photographs, gives you the feeling that you’re underground with Suzuki, which is both thrilling and a little frightening. “The Next Level” is on view daily through October 27, and admission is free.