Promoted as a guerrilla art show on the subway platform, Apostrophe’s flash mob exhibit at the Kosciuzsko J station turned out to be a tad tamer than expected.
As visitors who came to the subway platform between 6:00 and 7:00 pm last Friday to see the pop up meshed with the Manhattan commuters, all was calm; no police presence as far as could be seen.
Viewers responded well to the concept of bringing art to the people rather than the other way around. “Whether they realized or not, everyone who got on or off at that stop was a part of the exhibition that day,” one person told me.
While it was almost unnoticeable if you didn’t pay attention, once you saw the concept at work you felt as though you had become part of some obscure, secret mission at hand. One would-be visitor who missed out told me later on they could not figure out where the exhibition had taken place, so they left the J train, not wanting to use up a metro card swipe (the artwork was hung at the far end of the Brooklyn-bound platform, opposite the exit/entrance).
Apostrophe founders Sei and Ki Smith were present along with some of their featured artists. Below are scenes from the show which included works by Ryan Bock, Kolter Hodgson, Sam Sieger, Alana Dee Haynes, Lautaro Cuttica, James Reyes, and The Love Child.
Sei and Ki are already looking into ways to expand on the idea, possibly setting up future shows incorporating more than one subway platform or collaborating with other galleries interested in taking the same concept and riding (the subway) with it.
Apostrophe’s flash mob exhibit on the Kosciuszko J platform brought the art to visitors and commuters
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Visitors who wanted to look at art stuck around beyond commuters who just wanted to go home
