To me these three pictures summarize New York. From the different trains, the building shape, to the map. New York is all about buildings, everywhere you go you see incredible different types of building structures. When you go to a train station you always see the trains there are to take on that station. Trains is a broad way of transportation for all in New York. From the many ways to get around for all the people in this city there are always maps and help for the citizens of this place.
Category: COMD1100 Project #1 (Page 6 of 7)
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- Discarded M&M Cup, 50 Johnson Street
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- Dead Pigeon, 50 Johnson Street
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- Broken Fingernail, 42nd Street – Grand Central Subway Station
When I walk around New York City, litter tends to be a very commonly seen object as I pass by. However, today will be different because of a curiosity as to how it got there in the first place. For instance, it puzzles me as to how that pigeon died. It could have died from old age, poisonous food, or even murder by another creature. Then there’e the M&M cup, which seems to be completely intact despite being tossed to the ground and neglected. I wonder if it went through the same events that most food packages go through in being opened, used and eventually thrown away. It must have gone through a different course of events from the broken fingernail. I imagine that a great amount of care and effort went into it for the fingernail to have been left on the floor looking like it just came off someone’s hand. Either way, it’s interesting to think of how these objects have reached their current situations.
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- straw wrapper, found on Jay Street subway station
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- crooked pin , found on Jay street subway station
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- splash of gum, found on Jay street subway station
The splash of gum and crooked pin are organic, the straw wrapper is somehow a geometric shape. The gum had been blended into the floor, it shows that it had been on the floor for a period of time.The crooked pin had been stuck in the slit on the floor.The straw wrapper had been sitting on the floor, seen to be just thrown on the floor, Since there are people cleaning the floor in the subway. All of the artifacts are stable because they stand out from the floor when you look down.
These artifacts had a similar ending to them, which they are useless after people use it. For example for the splash of gum, owner done chewing it and spit it out, which means it’s life is done. The pin is the same when it crooked, the user throw it away. The straw wrapper was the same, it’s life was to protect the straw from the outside, when people use the straw, they don’t need the wrapper anymore. Things’ life are done when their owner don’t need them anymore.
In New York City everyday people decide to liter, and they don’t really give a response to why they do. If you don’t know littering could be defined as making a place untidy with rubbish or a large number of objects left lying about. One day I was walking along Jay St. where I stumbled across several things that were quite interesting,. First off I spotted a sign that read ”CUNY NEEDS A RAISE”, this was something that really stood out to me. Someone was really passionate about the message they were trying to get out there, which was possible because it was written in bold. This was something that was really creative and it is viewed as geometric, in which it also had some color involved. Something else that stood out were the rocks that were spread all over the ground, they looked as if they were meant to be in order. Usually I don’t see rocks in the street, so this was actually a unique artifact for myself. The final artifact was a bottle cap, now obviously someone finished their drink and decided the cap wasn’t necessary to have in their possession. I would expect to see the bottle of whatever the person was drinking on the ground, but why the cap? It was sitting there so lonely, while life and people just passed on right by it. These artifacts were unique to see in my opinion, especially the CUNY sign.
I took 3 pictures of Urban artifacts on the trip. The first picture was a dead bird. The dead bird signifies how Mother nature work. The bird will decompose and transfer energy through the soil to help the tree grow that will give life to other things like worms and so the circle of life repeats. The bird is a stable picture because it only shows a dead bird. The bird is organic because it has curves on the wings to actually make it fly with many dimensions. The second picture was a random paper plate on the floor near the sidewalk. That can have a lot of meaning like how the paper plate got manufactured by a factory and distributed to a restaurant to use the paper plate. The paper plate looked like it was from a pizza shop due to the grease on it and someone just threw out the plate when they finished eating the pizza.The paper plate is organic because it doesn’t have many line figures and instead a point that is semi big. The paper plate is also  Organic because it has a stain on it that can have more of a meaning to it. The last picture was a missing tile on the sidewalk. I don’t know how a cemented tile can be missing in the side walk besides no one ever putting one there. The tile is Geometric because it usually have lines that help it make it into a square that turns into a tile. The picture is stable because it doesn’t show much besides a tile missing. They all have something in common though. They are things that us humans take for granted. Life of the bird means life in general is taken for granted by people and not know how to take advantage of being alive. The paper plate is a privilege to have because some people don’t have plates to eat on and some just don’t take care of the Earth because they don’t really think of the bad consequences there are to littering. The tile shows how unimportant and little something missing can do so much like cause an accident just on a missing tile, yet it is something small that can turn into something big.
The cigarette stub lies on the sidewalk as a geometric circular shape. It is a stable figure that blends in with the outside floor. The trash scattered next to the trees are organic shapes. The objects blend in well, making it a stable figure. The plants next to the seats give off a geometric shape since they grow symmetrically. It is an ambiguous figure, since it is out of place from the background.
When the person was smoking, the cigarette accidentally fell on the ground. This explains why the paper didn’t completely burned off.  The plants were added in that area to make it more lively, since the area is surrounded by construction and buildings.The snacks and cigarette was the result of someone on their lunch break, looking to relax after a long day of work.
-Afternoon Date –
Taken at Jay Street by WC Art and Drafting Supply Brooklyn, NY
-Undergrowth-
Taken at Johnson Street site of New York City College of Technology Brooklyn, NY
-Alone Together-
Taken at Jay St. Metro Tech Station Brooklyn, NY
The empty Pepsi and orange juice container side by side in the corner of the window being hit by the sun gives off the impression of two people out together, enjoying each others company. These containers are alone and undisturbed in the sunny afternoon. The small plant growing underneath the storm drain grate shows that even in an industrial place like downtown Brooklyn, nature can still survive and thrive in little nooks and crannies of the city, and finally, the bottle of Arizona and trip of plastic on the earthy brown subway tracks give of the feeling of two people laying on the earth, looking up at the sky, with nothing else but these two objects on the floor, alone, but not completely.
abandon scraps- Tech Place and Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY
Dead Bird – Tech Place and Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY
crumpled up paper and gum stuck to a grate
empty cheezeits bag
train station with the local trains on the stairs
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- Advertising card
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- Flyer
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- Cookie Package
Photo taken at Seneca Ave, Ridgewood. Queens
Photo Taken at Myrtle-Wyckoff Ave, Brooklyn
Photo Taken at Myrtle-Wyckoff Ave, Brooklyn
Its very easy to find an urban artifact in New York City and New York itself could also be considered as generator of urban artifact, because it generates enormous of garbage every single day. Three Urban artifacts I choose are advertising card, flyer and cookie package. Each of these artifacts may have a story behind of its origin and how it ended up in that specific location, thus I made assumption for each artifact.
The advertising card is from a deck of card, a guy bought a poker card in a dollar store and went back home then decided to throw the advertising card since it useless, he threw the card form his window and the card fell on the street.
The Flyer lies in the middle of a side walk. It is not a surprise that its there, because there is a mobile serves store near by, probably they tried to sell their newest serves plan, but the people aren’t interested on that, thus, these flyers ended up in the middle of the side walk instead of in the pocket.
The cookies package lies next to a bench, perhaps someone came back from a long day of work and decided to take a rest on the bench before going home, but he felt little hungry, so he bought him self a pack of cookie for snack. After finished his cookie, he tossed empty package on the floor just like a typical New Yorker instead of the garbage can just few steps away.
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