Lenticular Photo Installation Shows the Past and the Present of a NYC Street Corner in a Single Frame

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Una publicación compartida por @nkmann5

New York City has long been a bustling city—a characteristic that transcends its financial hubs and runs through all of its neighborhoods. In a tribute to its robust history, multimedia artist Adrian Sas partnered with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation for Broadway: Now & Then, a new piece of public art that offers a look into the past. When looking it at it from different angles, the lenticular photo installation shifts between a photograph taken in 1910 and an image snapped in the present day, both captured at the same location—the corner of 157th Street and Broadway.

Broadway: Now & Then builds a bridge between old and new in architecture, urban planning, design, culture, technology, and photography. The 1910 image was taken by photographer Thaddeus Wilkerson, and depicts a horse and buggy, which have been replaced by cars and e-bikes. Most notably, the building in the foreground still stands and maintains its architectural style, having evolved from the distribution hub among the first to supply New Yorkers with pasteurized, bottled milk, to a gym and a fast food locale. The subway, which opened six years before the picture was taken, had its entrance moved to the sidewalk.

“It's a time machine, of sorts, that I built to transport passersby from a contemporary moment to one more than a century ago,” Sas explains on Instagram. “Flipping between an archival image from 1910 (courtesy of [the Museum of the City of New York]) and a photograph I took earlier this year, of the very same street corner where it is installed, this 4-foot-wide lenticular composition provides a unique perspective on the ever-evolving city I love.”

The installation, which was funded by the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, will be on view at Ilka Tanya Payán Park for the next six months. To stay up to date with the artist, follow Sas on Instagram.