Home · Maps · About

Home > SubChat

[ Post a New Response | Return to the Index ]

(1002051)

view threaded

NYPD arrested 20 people "Underbelly Project"—abandoned station (S4 St)

Posted by Gold_12th on Fri Nov 12 11:33:22 2010

edf40wrjww2msgDetail:detailStr
fiogf49gjkf0d
The New York City police have arrested 20 people for trying to enter the abandoned subway station that is home to the formerly secret guerrilla exhibition of underground street art that was revealed to the public this month.

The clandestine gallery has attracted urban explorers eager to catch a glimpse of dozens of provocative, large-scale installations created by more than 100 street artists who sneaked into the station over the course of a year.

Several of these spelunkers, however, have encountered something else: a team of police officers, some in plain clothes, assigned by the city to monitor the site. Most of those arrested were charged with criminal trespass, and a few were caught carrying spray cans and other graffiti paraphernalia, the authorities said. Two others received transit summonses.

While the police are taking a hard line on keeping people away — “This is not an art gallery; this is completely illegal,” said one officer – the paintings of what the artists called the Underbelly Project are likely to live on. Subway officials said they have no plans to paint over the artwork, even if they sincerely hope nobody ever gets to see it again.

“We have no intention of disturbing the works,” said Deirdre Parker, a spokeswoman for New York City Transit, the subway’s operator. Ms. Parker noted that the fiscally challenged transit agency would not want to devote resources to restoring a space almost entirely unseen by the riding public. “It’s in complete darkness and not really at all visible to anyone,” she added.

The organizers of the project, who did not return a request for comment, have so far refused to disclose the location. So have transit officials. But first-person accounts, photographs, and speculation around the Internet focus squarely on an abandoned station constructed in the 1930s atop the existing Broadway stop on the G line, near South Fourth Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

A comparison of current and historical photographs makes a convincing case for the Williamsburg station, and a spokesman for the police acknowledged that the site is in Brooklyn. But subway officials would not divulge the exact location. “There are some bloggers who can pinpoint these places because they eat and sleep transit lore, but officially, no, we’re not confirming anything,” Ms. Parker said.

So far, efforts by the authorities to secure the space have appeared only partly successful. Evidence of recent visits to the site has been published on the Internet, including photographs that suggest some of the artwork has been defaced by graffiti.

One blogger from Brooklyn, who said he explored the site in the early hours of Nov. 4, posted photographs on his Web site that appeared to show vandalized works. “It does seem to only have been tagged by one person and it’s actually kind of sad since some of the works are so amazing,” the blogger wrote in an e-mail. (He asked to remain anonymous, hoping to avoid interest from the authorities.)

The blogger said that part of a chain-link fence put up by the police had already been peeled open. “If you are industrious enough, you can still get up there,” he wrote.

The South Fourth Street station was intended as a primary transfer point for subway lines that would have stretched from Lower Manhattan into Brooklyn and Queens, part of an ambitious expansion of the subway system planned by the city in 1929. The Great Depression forced officials to abandon the proposal, but not before bits and pieces of the proposed network had been built.

Transit officials reiterated this week that getting to the site can be dangerous. “We really don’t want to encourage anyone to go near these places,” Ms. Parker said. She said the police department and transit officials were “working closely together to come up with short- and long-term solutions to the security problem.”

Detectives from the police department’s vandalism team have been looking into the project’s origins, a spokesman said, but the police often find it difficult to link individuals to cases of illegal street art.

Was there any precedent for this type of undertaking? “From time to time, there have been urban adventurers who find these little places and enter illegally,” Ms. Parker said, “but nothing really comes to mind, nothing on this scale.”

Source: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/11/heres-a-surprise-for-underground-art-lovers-handcuffs/

Post a New Response

(1002052)

view threaded

Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St)

Posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Fri Nov 12 11:36:12 2010, in response to NYPD arrested 20 people "Underbelly Project"—abandoned station (S4 St), posted by Gold_12th on Fri Nov 12 11:33:22 2010.

edf40wrjww2msgDetail:detailStr
fiogf49gjkf0d
“There are some bloggers who can pinpoint these places because they eat and sleep transit lore

They know us so well.

Post a New Response

(1002064)

view threaded

Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St)

Posted by Fisk Ave Jim on Fri Nov 12 12:13:50 2010, in response to NYPD arrested 20 people "Underbelly Project"—abandoned station (S4 St), posted by Gold_12th on Fri Nov 12 11:33:22 2010.

edf40wrjww2msgDetail:detailStr
fiogf49gjkf0d
Tresspassing is still tresspassing no matter how you slice it weather you're in someones back yard or in some long since abandoned partially constructed subway station. If you're not supposed to be there & get caught, well expect your wallet to take a severe hit.

Besides, I always get a bad feeling about anyone lurking around subway turf, abandoned or no, with spray paint.

And if one of these "artists" gets hurt down there, see how fast they get a lawyer & try to sue the city for not securing the area properly, allowing them to enter the property in the first place, or some other BS like that

Post a New Response

(Sponsored)

iPhone 6 (4.7 Inch) Premium PU Leather Wallet Case - Red w/ Floral Interior - by Notch-It

(1002068)

view threaded

Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St)

Posted by SLRT on Fri Nov 12 12:26:14 2010, in response to Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St), posted by Fisk Ave Jim on Fri Nov 12 12:13:50 2010.

edf40wrjww2msgDetail:detailStr
fiogf49gjkf0d
"The South Fourth Street station was intended as a primary transfer point for subway lines that would have stretched from Lower Manhattan into Brooklyn and Queens, part of an ambitious expansion of the subway system planned by the city in 1929. The Great Depression forced officials to abandon the proposal, but not before bits and pieces of the proposed network had been built."

No, the Great Depression actually helped complete what is now the current IND system, by depressing wages and other costs and making federal money available. The Second System didn't get off the ground because the city spent so lavishly on the First System, refusing private investment, and skyrocketing the rapid transit debt.

Post a New Response

(1002090)

view threaded

Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St)

Posted by Jersey Mike on Fri Nov 12 13:21:43 2010, in response to NYPD arrested 20 people "Underbelly Project"—abandoned station (S4 St), posted by Gold_12th on Fri Nov 12 11:33:22 2010.

edf40wrjww2msgDetail:detailStr
fiogf49gjkf0d
As the cost and size of unmanned air vehicles continues to fall this sort of situation will become more interesting.

Post a New Response

(1002128)

view threaded

Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St)

Posted by Mr RT on Fri Nov 12 15:01:57 2010, in response to Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St), posted by Fisk Ave Jim on Fri Nov 12 12:13:50 2010.

edf40wrjww2msgDetail:detailStr
fiogf49gjkf0d
There is also that art work uptown in the former NYC ROW ... near Grant's Tomb.

Post a New Response

(1002143)

view threaded

Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St)

Posted by Allan on Fri Nov 12 16:10:13 2010, in response to NYPD arrested 20 people "Underbelly Project"—abandoned station (S4 St), posted by Gold_12th on Fri Nov 12 11:33:22 2010.

edf40wrjww2msgDetail:detailStr
fiogf49gjkf0d
I expect there will be even more arrests in future days.

Post a New Response

(1002146)

view threaded

Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St)

Posted by R32_3672 on Fri Nov 12 16:18:59 2010, in response to Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St), posted by Allan on Fri Nov 12 16:10:13 2010.

edf40wrjww2msgDetail:detailStr
fiogf49gjkf0d
Now why don't they just put the old station into use by a future project so this issue won't happen again.

Post a New Response

(1002150)

view threaded

Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St)

Posted by Allan on Fri Nov 12 16:35:56 2010, in response to Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St), posted by R32_3672 on Fri Nov 12 16:18:59 2010.

edf40wrjww2msgDetail:detailStr
fiogf49gjkf0d
In future use? As what?

They can't even get the SAS built w/o running drastically overbudget.

Where could they get the money to do something with S4?

Post a New Response

(1002155)

view threaded

Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St)

Posted by Larry,RedbirdR33 on Fri Nov 12 17:17:18 2010, in response to NYPD arrested 20 people "Underbelly Project"—abandoned station (S4 St), posted by Gold_12th on Fri Nov 12 11:33:22 2010.

edf40wrjww2msgDetail:detailStr
fiogf49gjkf0d
The New York City police have arrested 20 people for trying to enter the abandoned subway station that is home to the formerly secret guerrilla exhibition of underground street art that was revealed to the public this month.

We're damn lucky that they didn't find out about 76 Street. Then we would all be in the slammer.


Larry, RedbirdR33

Post a New Response

(1002164)

view threaded

Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St)

Posted by jabrams on Fri Nov 12 17:45:27 2010, in response to Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St), posted by Larry,RedbirdR33 on Fri Nov 12 17:17:18 2010.

edf40wrjww2msgDetail:detailStr
fiogf49gjkf0d
Let an Art Museum manage the space, build a street opening, add lighting and other safety items, seal off the subway entrances to the G line, and charge admission (with some money going to the MTA for people to visit the site). If the station is above the G line, is it just one level below the street?

Post a New Response

(1002190)

view threaded

Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St)

Posted by RockParkMan on Fri Nov 12 19:48:32 2010, in response to Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St), posted by Jersey Mike on Fri Nov 12 13:21:43 2010.

edf40wrjww2msgDetail:detailStr
fiogf49gjkf0d
Fly a drone in there to take video?

Post a New Response

(1002358)

view threaded

Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St)

Posted by Kew Gardens Teleport on Sat Nov 13 08:35:17 2010, in response to Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St), posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Fri Nov 12 11:36:12 2010.

edf40wrjww2msgDetail:detailStr
fiogf49gjkf0d
Yes, that was quite a nice way of saying that we were right.

Post a New Response

(1002359)

view threaded

Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St)

Posted by Kew Gardens Teleport on Sat Nov 13 08:36:41 2010, in response to Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St), posted by R32_3672 on Fri Nov 12 16:18:59 2010.

edf40wrjww2msgDetail:detailStr
fiogf49gjkf0d
Exactly. Formalize its use as an art exhibition space.

Post a New Response

(1002360)

view threaded

Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St)

Posted by Kew Gardens Teleport on Sat Nov 13 08:39:06 2010, in response to Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St), posted by jabrams on Fri Nov 12 17:45:27 2010.

edf40wrjww2msgDetail:detailStr
fiogf49gjkf0d
I believe it's accessible by a door somewhere on what is left of the mezzanine, not that I am encouraging anyone to go and get arrested.

Post a New Response

(1002363)

view threaded

Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St)

Posted by Fred G on Sat Nov 13 08:46:12 2010, in response to Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St), posted by Larry,RedbirdR33 on Fri Nov 12 17:17:18 2010.

edf40wrjww2msgDetail:detailStr
fiogf49gjkf0d
Haha, so true!

your pal,
Fred

Post a New Response

(1002511)

view threaded

Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St)

Posted by SLRT on Sat Nov 13 12:04:39 2010, in response to Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St), posted by jabrams on Fri Nov 12 17:45:27 2010.

edf40wrjww2msgDetail:detailStr
fiogf49gjkf0d
meh

Post a New Response

(1002514)

view threaded

Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St)

Posted by BMTLines on Sat Nov 13 12:07:29 2010, in response to Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St), posted by SLRT on Sat Nov 13 12:04:39 2010.

edf40wrjww2msgDetail:detailStr
fiogf49gjkf0d
I bet a thousand years from now future archaeologists will excavate that space and declare that it was probably the basement of an art museum at that location....

Post a New Response

(1002520)

view threaded

Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St)

Posted by Jersey Mike on Sat Nov 13 12:12:12 2010, in response to Re: NYPD arrested 20 people ''Underbelly Project''—abandoned station (S4 St), posted by RockParkMan on Fri Nov 12 19:48:32 2010.

edf40wrjww2msgDetail:detailStr
fiogf49gjkf0d
Exactly! It works for yards and any other hard to photograph location!!

Post a New Response


[ Return to the Message Index ]