Next Stop Atlantic and A Bridge Delivered
WHEN: July 29-September 25; Opening Reception: July 29, 2011, 6–8 PM; Closing Reception: September 23, 6-8 PM
WHERE: 68 Elm Street, Mitzi and Warren Eisenberg Gallery: Monday –Thursday 9:30 AM – 8 PM, Friday 9:30 AM – 5 PM, and Saturday & Sunday 10 AM – 4 PM
SUGGESTED ADMISSION: Adults $5; Seniors/Kids $3; Art Center Members free
Next Stop Atlantic is a photographic series by Stephen Mallon documenting the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority’s recycling program that builds artificial underwater reefs from old subway cars. Taken over the course of three years along the Eastern seaboard from Delaware to South Carolina, these photographs track the final passage of hundreds of decommissioned subways cars as they make their way to their last stop: the Atlantic Ocean. The photographs dramatically capture the moments before, during and after these subway cars are dropped into the sea to spend their “retirement” as a new home for undersea life.
The New York City Transit authority joined the artificial reef building program off the East Coast in 2000. Stripped and decontaminated subway cars were shipped on barges to be dropped into the ocean to build refuge for many species of fish and sea life to colonize the structures. Commenting on these photographs Mallon notes, “Seeing these massive mechanisms being tossed into the ocean like a toy in the bathtub is a ping in my heart. I have always been attached to these machines, their surreal beauty integrated into their functional engineering. At first I was stunned, the moments of violent recycling, watching the water quickly adapt to its new underwater houses. After being pushed and stacked like a sardine in these subways cars over the past decade, it is nice to see the sardine actually getting one of these as its new steel condo.”
Mallon’s related time-lapse video, A Bridge Delivered, chronicling the 136-mile journey of the Willis Avenue Bridge from upstate New York to its final home at 125th Street, will also be on view.
Stephen Mallon is a New York-based industrial photographer. He gained wide recognition for his dramatic series of photographs, Brace for Impact: The Salvage of Flight 1549, documenting the salvaging of the US Air flight Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger managed to emergency-land safely in the Hudson River on January 15, 2009. Recently, Mallon spent over six months producing a short film about the transport and installation of the new Willis Avenue Bridge. Produced from over 30,000 still images, the time-lapse film A Bridge Delivered was reviewed by the Wall St Journal, New York Magazine, GQ, PDN and WIRED. Mallon’s photos have been honored by Communication Arts 2008 and 2009, the New York Photo Festival 2009 and the Lucie Awards 2009.
About the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey
Founded in 1933, the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey is the state’s largest organization dedicated exclusively to viewing, making and learning about contemporary art. Comprising a renowned studio school and a thriving exhibition, education and programming schedule, the Art Center welcomes over 60,000 visitors each year.
Image: Stephen Mallon, Splish, New Jersey-Delaware 2010, 20 in. x 30 in.
