'Reach New York: An Urban Musical Instrument' Inside 34th Street Station At Herald Square (VIDEO)

There's an instrument for all to use inside the station at 34th Street Herald Square. The audio installation by Christopher Janney is called "Reach New York: An Urban Musical Instrument" and was created by Christopher Janney (who you may remember from those musical stairs in Boston) back in 1996.

Perhaps because so few people know about it (we didn't), Transportation Nation recently brought attention back to the inconspicuous green box suspended above the uptown and downtown platforms of the N/R train. A plaque near the instrument explains:

As you reach up and wave your hand in front of one of the eight "eyes" in the horizontal green bar you will interrupt a beam of light. This will activate REACH, creating sounds from melodic instruments (marimba, flute) to environmental "sound images" (Everglades, rain forest). Because the piece is on both the uptown and downtown platform, you can interact with others across the tracks.

Take a look below or head on up to 34th Street and give it a try.

[VIA Gothamist]

Comments

[mivogo]

01:38 PM on 02/10/2012

Yeah, I've seen them there for years. It's cute for about five minutes, then it starts to get on my nerves.
BTW, do you know that Times Square has been Disneyfied? How about the High Line? Talk about yesterday's news!

www.newyorkgritty.net

[bklo]

11:49 AM on 02/10/2012

I used to use that station all the time and would play with that. I love it, but it is a bit high. I had to hop to reach it.

[happirick]

10:52 AM on 02/10/2012

This is biased against the vertically-challenged community - rise up and fight!

[chicgirl]

10:06 AM on 02/10/2012

This has been there for years. It helps if you're 6ft tall and are bored stiff waiting for trains that may or may not show up.

[shutupdanny]

08:24 AM on 02/10/2012

So someone had to reach up high and lose their balance a few inches from the track. Is that music I hear, or doom?

[bagelmart]

01:12 AM on 02/10/2012

Right. As if there's not enough noise in the subway already.

[AcesHighSays]

11:16 PM on 02/09/2012

I've lived in NYC since '91 and this is the first time hearing about this. Next time I'm at Macy's I'll check it out... assuming I can reach...

[kmichal2000]

10:50 PM on 02/09/2012

Because it's not noisy enough down there....

[Return of PlayFair]

09:43 PM on 02/09/2012

Wow - never knew about this. Thanks!

(Love the odd, fun, artsy things around this city)

[Majestry]

09:27 PM on 02/09/2012

I've been on that platform twice a day for 2 years, and I've never seen it!

[taurus58]

07:49 PM on 02/09/2012

whatever you do, DONT TOUCH IT

[mybedhead]

07:25 PM on 02/09/2012

...uh... yeah it's been there for years...

[bfcg]

05:27 PM on 02/09/2012

A cool piece of subway art from my old neighborhood. I pasted this text. In September 1980, independent film-maker Bill Brand installed a type of linear zoetrope he called the "Masstransiscope" in an unused subway platform at Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. It consisted of a linear wall with 228 slits in the face. Behind each slit was a hand-painted panel. Riders in subways moving past the display saw a motion-picture within. After falling into a state of disrepair, the "Masstransiscope" was restored in late 2008. See the youtube video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NldBKXN8n6A&feature=related

[Rebrebreb]

09:14 PM on 02/09/2012

Thanks for posting this youtube video of that "motion picture!" I had seen this as a kid and wondered if it was still there. Awesome. Sweet times in NYC when art would pop up in odd places like that (this was illegal, technically graffiti, yes? He didn't do this with funding or permission from the MTA or am I mistaken?)

[art525]

10:14 PM on 02/09/2012

I love that piece. A few times I took people on the train just to show it to them. It is very cool.

[butlercaddie]

05:23 PM on 02/09/2012

Musical on 34th Street

[bfcg]

05:18 PM on 02/09/2012

There used to be a lot of cool interactive art in NYC that was paid for privately until Rudy911 had it all torn out calling it all a public nusance.