14th St xylophone, A/C/E

three conga drums on the M train

Marcy JMZ

Alexander Chen — Conductor (2011)

Video capture. View live at: mta.me

I love projects that twist two incongruous things together — the results are often mesmerizing. In this case, designer Alexander Chen combines Massimo Vignelli’s 1972 NYC subway map with the music of plucked strings for a zen-like audiovisual experience.

Each stretch of track becomes a string as a train travels along it in time. Other trains crossing the line ‘pluck’ the strings. The longer the straight stretches, the deeper the tones. The 4/5/6 and D lines have wonderfully deep tones.

pierreism:

Conductor turns the New York subway system into an interactive string instrument. Using the MTA’s actual subway schedule, the piece begins in realtime by spawning trains which departed in the last minute, then continues accelerating through a 24 hour loop. The visuals are based on Massimo Vignelli’s 1972 diagram.

Hypnotising. (via ghostcapital)

Lankandio Cissoko

Senegalese kora player

Atlantic Ave subway