Ilana Sufrin / Travis Kaufman

Motion Pictures

An exploration of the MTA's Artwork (Jan - Sep 2024)

Leaflet © OpenStreetMap contributors
Ridership (larger circles) vs. public artworks (color-coded). Data courtesy of MTA + NYC Open Data

A Visualization of a Map of New York City, showing each subway complex and its size relative to ridership in 2024, as well as whether or not it has any artwork

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.

BronxBrooklynManhattanQueensStaten Island0%5%10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%50%55%60%65%70%Percent of Complexes with Art, by Borough

A bar chart showing the breakdown of percentages of complexes with art across boroughs

Staten IslandManhattanQueensBrooklynBronx050100150200250300350400450500Ridership Total (millions)Number of ArtworksRidership vs. Artworks, by Borough
A bar chart showing the breakdown of art ridership compared to number of art pieces for each borough

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.

47-50 Sts-Rock…W 4 St-Wash S…14 St (F,M,1,2,…Junction Blvd (7)Sutphin Blvd-Ar…Court St (R)/Bo…103 St-Corona …49 St (N,R,W)125 St (A,C,B,D)Grand St (B,D)0M1M2M3M4M5M6M7M8M9MManhattanQueensBrooklynBoroughBusiest complexes with no art, by ridership
A bar chart showing the top 5 complexes by Ridership with No Art

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.

14 St-Union Sq…59 St-Columbu…74-Broadway (…Flushing-Main …Lexington Av-5…Lexington Av (…14 St (A,C,E)/8…Bryant Pk (B,D,…86 St (4,5,6)Canal St (J,N,…0M2M4M6M8M10M12M14M16M18MManhattanQueensBoroughRidership vs. Artworks, by Complex
A bar chart showing the top 5 complexes by the lowest art / ridershp ratio

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