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New York City converted this dingy subway tunnel into a colorful underground museum of street art

New York City converted this dingy subway tunnel into a colorful underground museum of street art

For a long time, the 900-foot pedestrian tunnel that leads to the 1 train in Washington Heights was one of New York City‘s creepiest spaces. Now, it’s been transformed into one of the city’s best places to see art—or at least take some impressive Instagram photos.

As part of the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) Beautification Project, the dingy tunnel was recently transformed into a colorful, art-filled corridor. NYCDOT picked five teams of artists (out of 150 submissions) and gave them each a 200-foot piece of the tunnel to use as a canvas. As you can see, the result is pretty dramatic.

NYCDOT has a nice rundown of what visitors and commuters should expect as they make their way through the tunnel:

At the entrance to the tunnel, local Washington Heights artist Andrea von Bujdoss, also known as Queen Andrea, welcomes pedestrians with her mural entitled, ‘Primastic Power Phrases,’ a series of typographical designs that include phrases such as, ‘Today is Your Day,’ ‘Live your Dreams’ and ‘Estoy Aqui!’ As one travels further into the tunnel, Maryland-based artist team Jessie Unterhalter and Katey Truhn have created, ‘Caterpillar Time Travel,’ a series of colorful, geometric designs. Next, Queens-based artist Nick Kuszyk takes viewers through ‘Warp Zone,’ a geometric design that plays with perspective and ‘warps’ the tunnel walls. Chilean artist Nelson Rivas, also known as Cekis, has created a dense jungle landscape with, ‘It’s like a Jungle/Aveces es como una jungla.’ At the end of the Tunnel, local artist Fernando Cope, Jr., also known as Cope 2, created ‘Art is Life’ to remind pedestrians to ‘Take Your Passion, Make it Happen’ and to ‘Follow Your Dreams.’

If you’re wondering why the DOT oversaw this project, it’s because the tunnel is technically mapped as a city street. Anyway, onto the pictures!

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