The latest from artist Steve Shaheen has been making the rounds online. It is, as you can see, a bench made up of 5000 MetroCards. Shaheen crowdsourced the MetroCards via Craigslist ad and spoke to the design blog Freshome about the inspiration for the project.
He said:
“Metrobench is a conceptually-driven sculptural seating element using recycled materials (New York City Metrocards). I was inspired to use these discarded objects–at once very personal and expendable–in a way that reflects the manner in which mass transit joins many diverse lives into a single moment or path together. The Metrocard represents movement for people; Metrobench is a point of rest for people. Millions of New Yorkers, with their separate lives, are brought together on the transit system every day. In this sculptural seat, each card, with its distinct and intimate history is stitched together into a fluid tapestry. Metrobench was assembled completely by hand, card by card. Using Craigslist, I harnessed the people of New York to help me gather 5,000 Metrocards in under a week. There is something very personal about handling so many small belongings that were once riding around in peoples’ pockets. There are untold personal stories in that inconspicuous, flimsy plastic.”
Fast’s Co.Design blog talks about the materials Shaheen used to keep the bench together. “Shaheen,” they say, “used various types of glue to hold the MetroCards together: Gorilla Glue for individual cards; aquarium-grade silicone to create rows; and two-part plastic epoxy to strengthen high-tension areas (like the loops inside the wheels). Ultimately, he laminated sheets of MetroCards onto the steel frame in sections using contact cement.”
The bench looks great, but it doesn’t appear to be too comfortable. Perhaps that element of it could help attract the MTA’s eye. After all, the authority has run into some problems with its benches. Up in Inwood at the end of the A line, the benches at the 208th St. subway station play host to a growing population of permanent residents. The MTA would like to do away with these loiterers, and a week ago, they removed some of the benches.
While the MTA claimed the benches were removed because the wood was starting to rot, a spokesman for the Coalition for the Homeless was skeptical. “They’ve been making it uncomfortable for people to sit or recline on benches for years,” Patrick Markee said to DNA Info.
At first, the MTA said the benches would not return. “The removal of the benches is not really an inconvenience to customers as there is usually an A train in the station, waiting to pull out for its next trip,” agency spokesman Charles Seaton said.
But eventually, the authority capitulated to neighborhood pressure. The benches will return, but as one news report noted, they are being “outfitted to make them more uncomfortable to sleep on.” That won’t, however, stop homeless people from congregating underground during spells of cold weather.
1 comment
Interesting article. I used to frequent that station heavily a couple years back and its true, there is a population that lives there pretty much all the time. They never bothered me personally, but they did have a self-righteous, westboro church agenda going on (never really stuck around long enough to listen).
So they removed them, residents complained, and now they are replacing the benches. Okay, thats good for the elderly, infirm, pregnant, etc. But how will the paying riders who need them ever get to use them when there is always homeless people on them? We pay fares to use them but these benches will “rot” just like the old ones (i think rot was code for became disgustingly filthy) becaues they will have a permanent population on them,…again.
I read the link in the article and some of the comments on there were spot-on (esp. the one about the guy who has open sores on his body). These same sores are touching the bench that we would be using so there is a public health concern in the situation as well.