{"id":199168,"date":"2025-09-04T09:16:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T09:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/199168\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T09:16:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T09:16:26","slug":"whats-that-weird-sound-in-the-subway-station-listen-up-for-these-new-audio-artworks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/199168\/","title":{"rendered":"What&#8217;s that weird sound in the subway station? Listen up for these new audio artworks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You&#8217;re probably familiar with the phrase, &#8220;if you see something, say something.&#8221; But\u00a0there&#8217;s a new phrase being announced over the airwaves in NYC subway stations: &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/creativetime.org\/if-you-hear-something-free-something\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">if you hear something, free something<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Next time you ride the subway, you may hear that poetic phrase and many others announced as part of a sound artwork by artist Chlo\u00eb Bass. Though art in the subway is nothing new, this project is the first to use the MTA&#8217;s broadcast system. You can hear it through Sunday, October 5.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>RECOMMENDED: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/newyork\/art\/best-outdoor-art-in-nyc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The best outdoor art in NYC this summer<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The exhibition is meant to tap into the purpose of the public address, the way it provides riders with a fleeting moment of everyday connection. After all, as public transit riders, we&#8217;re attuned to remove our headphones and listen up when announcements come over the loudspeaker\u2014and repeat them to fellow passengers who didn&#8217;t hear.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The sounds won&#8217;t just play in English;\u00a0they&#8217;ll also play in\u00a0Spanish, Arabic, Bangla, Haitian Krey\u00f2l and Mandarin. Expect to hear announcements\u00a0intermittently in key station mezzanines, reaching hundreds of thousands of riders.\u00a0Each recording will begin with a custom tone, designed by Bass in collaboration with artist Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste, followed by one of 24 total announcements spoken by professional performers and everyday New Yorkers.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s where to hear the art:<\/p>\n<ul>&#13;<\/p>\n<li><strong>Manhattan: <\/strong>Fulton St (4,5), 14 St-Union Sq (4,5,6), 42 St-Bryant Pk\/5 Av (7), Grand Central-42 St (S), 163 St-Amsterdam Av (A,C)<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li><strong>Queens: <\/strong>Court Sq (7,G), 74 St-Broadway (7), Mets-Willets Point (7)<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li><strong>Brooklyn:<\/strong> Clinton-Washington Avs (G), Fort Hamilton Pkwy (F,G), York St (F), Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr (2,3,4,5)<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li><strong>The Bronx:<\/strong> 167 St (B,D), Westchester Sq-E Tremont Av (6)<\/li>\n<p>&#13;\n<\/ul>\n<p>To\u00a0create\u00a0each poetic announcement, Bass assembled a diverse series of focus groups to consider &#8220;what sounds and stories might call us to somewhere familiar, or bring us to a place of ease,&#8221; per a press release about the art.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As an artist, Bass is well known for her multidimensional practice, which uses daily life as a site of deep research to address scales of intimacy\u2014and &#8220;if you hear something, free something&#8221; is the latest extension of that ethos.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>If we change what we hear, can we change how we feel, and in turn, will we be better neighbors?\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re used to thinking of certain conditions as given, when they&#8217;re actually a product of design. &#8216;If you hear something, free something&#8217; offers one opportunity to feel how a system might be different, or introduce us to other possibilities, if it were designed with a more open emotional mindset,&#8221; Bass said in a press release. &#8220;It&#8217;s not just about the announcements. It&#8217;s about the ways we feel together in public space.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As curator Diya Vij adds: &#8220;She asks us to consider, if we change what we hear, can we change how we feel, and in turn, will we be better neighbors?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The work is presented by Creative Time and MTA Arts &amp; Design.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You&#8217;re probably familiar with the phrase, &#8220;if you see something, say something.&#8221; But\u00a0there&#8217;s a new phrase being announced&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":199169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,1037,29645,18634,41800,15290,10784,10782,18625,10785,18626,10783,18627,18629,37720,68303,18631,405,403,29646,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-199168","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-art","10":"tag-categories-art","11":"tag-family-kids-good-for-kids","12":"tag-good-for-good-for-a-rainy-day","13":"tag-good-for-good-for-couples","14":"tag-good-for-good-for-going-in-a-group","15":"tag-good-for-good-for-going-solo","16":"tag-good-for-good-for-going-with-friends","17":"tag-good-for-good-for-locals","18":"tag-good-for-good-for-taking-parents","19":"tag-good-for-good-for-tourists","20":"tag-good-for-vibe-beautiful","21":"tag-good-for-vibe-ethical","22":"tag-good-for-vibe-quirky","23":"tag-holidays-fall","24":"tag-holidays-summer","25":"tag-new-york","26":"tag-new-york-city","27":"tag-news-art","28":"tag-newyork","29":"tag-newyorkcity","30":"tag-ny","31":"tag-nyc","32":"tag-united-states","33":"tag-united-states-of-america","34":"tag-unitedstates","35":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","36":"tag-us","37":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}