Secret Underground Art Gallery Pops Up In Brooklyn

An abandoned platform of Brooklyn’s Nevins St subway station has become the location of a secret pop-up art gallery.

The temporary art gallery can only be accessed by walking some meters along the railway tracks in the tunnel. Timing is everything if you want to visit the space — you need to perfectly know when subway trains are coming. Then there’s also deadly electrical installations, as well as the omnipresent rats.

The New York City Subway is one of the oldest public transport systems in the world, making it no surprise that the city has its fair share of abandoned platforms. Artist and activist Phil America has reclaimed a fraction of New York City’s unused underground space with an art installation against gun violence. The Perilous Fight, as it’s called, is a series of flags embroidered with guns that each represent a separate instance of gun violence in America — from Columbine to San Bernardino.

“The Perilous Fight is a series on display within the depths of the New York subway system showing work by artist Phil America. Through live subway tracks, at the end of abandoned tunnels, cold and far under the city, lies a ‘gallery’ space for no one. A ‘gallery’ space, in the dark, where it is unlikely to ever be seen by eyes that don’t specifically go looking for it.”

The artist says the location fits the theme of the installation. He explains that he has become fed up with pretentious and unaffordable gallery spaces in other parts of the city, forcing him to look for alternatives. He learnt about the existence of the space from his years of urban exploring, and, according to him, a large part of the big New York urban exploration scene has already visited the installation at Nevins St.