Uptown Underground
Uptown Underground projects a geographically accurate view of the cityscape above a moving subway car onto its ceiling as it moves under New York City. The intervention has been installed regularly, without permission, on a series of moving subway wagons along New York City’s 6 Line from Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall to 96th Street stations, a roughly 6 mile loop along the East Side of Manhattan.
The Challenge
Uptown Underground projects a geographically accurate view of the cityscape above a moving subway car onto its ceiling as it moves under New York City. The intervention has been installed regularly, without permission, on a series of moving subway wagons along New York City’s 6 Line from Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall to 96th Street stations, a roughly 6 mile/25-minute loop along the East Side of Manhattan.
Project Vision
Uptown Underground offers a new and dynamic means through which to reconnect with and feel grounded within the city by imagining seeing through the ceiling of the subway car to the street.The project takes inspiration from the glass-bottom boat, where access is granted to the reeds, the fish, and the dark depths normally inaccessible; in a literal reversal, here access is granted upwards, to skyscrapers, trees, and the occasional flock of pigeons. Through this, Uptown Underground aims to create a technology-positive interaction with the sole intention of augmenting urban experience.
Installation View – Detail of Ceiling Projections
Ian Callender
Mobile Application: the intervention relied on a cell phone’s GPS and acceleration data in order to keep the projections in sync with the world above
Ian Callender
Installation View – Detail of Clamped Computer-Battery-Projector Setup
Ian Callender
Design + Execution
Uptown Underground is implemented with four Raspberry Pi single-board computers, each connected to a 4K mini projector and a battery. The window to install the project is only some seventy-five seconds, while a train reverses directions between stations, empty. All aspects of the project were designed for this, through expedience in and fluidity of installation (and, since the intervention has never received formal permission, deinstallation). Four units cover the entire ceiling of a train wagon, two to a single clamp arm attached to a handrail post.
The installation runs itself, adjusting in concert with the movements of the train in order to remain in synchronization with the world above.
Elements and Build: each unit comprises a clamp and two arms of a computer, a battery pack, and a projector
Ian Callender
Concept Render
Ian Callender
Concept Diagram: Section, Reflected Ceiling Plan, and Correlation of Shots to Offset Timing
Ian Callender
Project Details
A project which is so obvious, to think why had no one done this before, a great prototype for a way of connecting the underground with the world above. Imaginative wayfinding, placemaking and installation rolled into one.
What a treat! This is an ingenious public installation that not only engages people but serves a very practical wayfinding purpose. Every subway train should have this!
Design Team
Ian Callender
Photo Credits
Ian Callender (photography, videography)
Daniel Ornitz (videography, direction, production)
Scot Zaretsky(videography, direction)
Marcus Odom (cinematography, editing)
Matthew Lesko (videography, editing)
Open Date
August 2020