Subway Motion Art, aka Masstransiscope

I live in Brooklyn and works at lower Manhattan. To get from point A to point B, I take the subway - the B line to be exact. During the ride, most of the time my head is buried in the book. But one morning I just finished reading my book so for the rest of my ride, my eyes were wandering around while the subway takes me to my destination. Right after the train left Dekalb Ave, I noticed something was moving out the window. It looked like a series of animated paintings. They kept going until the train hits the Manhattan bridge.

So the next day, to prove that I wasn't insane, I paid closer attention. And sure enough, there goes the animated paintings again. I did some research and the piece is called "Masstransiscope" by Bill Brand. The motion art was done in 1980, placed on an abandoned platform at Myrtle Avenue. The art disappeared for a while and apparently in late 2006, work was being done to the art for restoration. And now it's back for our viewing pleasure.

According to the nyc subway website:

The animation was based on the zoetrope, essentially a series of single frames viewed through slits as the train moved past the station. The brief glimpses of the frames appeared to animate the artwork.

It's pretty cool. Take a look: