Where is the art in the subway, and where isn’t it? More than half of New York City subway complexes have no artwork, including some of the busiest in the city. Access to MTA’s “diverse and beautiful underground art museum” only corresponds loosely with ridership numbers. We can see many opportunities to more evenly arrange the distribution of art across the system.
The borough of Queens is underserved, with a total number of 128,509,366 rides so far in 2024, but only 50% of complexes having at least one piece of artwork. Contrast that to Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, where 60%, 62%, 69% of subway complexes have art, respectively.
A bar chart showing the breakdown of percentages of complexes with art across boroughs
Most of the busiest complexes in the city with no artwork are in Manhattan. 47-50 Sts-Rockefeller Center is the complex in most need of art, followed by W 4 St-Washington Sq, and 14 St/6 Av. Three complexes in Queens also made the top 10, but have lower ridership numbers than the Manhattan complexes mentioned above.
Meanwhile, because Manhattan has such high ridership numbers, art must be shared across many subway riders. Among subway stops with at least one piece of artwork, 8 out of the top 10 complexes in the city with the lowest ratios of artwork to rider are in Manhattan. Union Square in particular stands out as a great opportunity to introduce additional art pieces.
Biggest Opportunities
- Introduce artwork into 47-50 Sts-Rockefeller Center, W 4 St-Washington Sq, and 14 St/6 Av
- Add additional art to Union Square
- Engage with Queens' artist communities to promote more artwork across the borough