Broadway: Now & Then
at Ilka Tanya Payán Plaza
October 2023 – March 2024

A lenticular composition that bridges history and modernity, illuminating the evolution of a street corner.


Broadway: Now & Then in Situ

 

 
This site-specific installation displays alternating images of the intersection where it stands, at Broadway and W. 157th Street, in two distinct eras. Pedestrians trigger its lenticular, time-warp effect simply by walking by.
 
Transitioning from an archival image which depicts the site in 1910, into a contemporary photograph of the same location taken by Adrian Sas in 2023, Broadway: Now & Again publicly presents an unexpected and dynamic visual interplay that encourages contemplation of how time shapes our surroundings.

 

 The archival photograph, by Thaddeus Wilkerson, is provided courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York.
 
Thaddeus Wilkerson
 
In the contemporary photograph, cars and e-bikes replace a horse and buggy, the subway entrance has moved, trees have grown in and clothing styles have changed. A gym and fast food chain occupy what was once a distribution hub for the dairy that was the first to supply New Yorkers with pasteurized, bottled milk.

Adrian Sas, 2023

 

This project is made possible in part with funds from UMEZ Arts Engagement, a regrant program supported by the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone (UMEZ), and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC). It is permitted under the NYC Parks Arts in the Parks Program.
 
Images my not be reproduced.