Orin Buck

MTA vs. Google Earth 60" x 58" digital print

Williamsburg Art & Historical Center

Gallery Hours: Sat & Sun Noon-6pm or by appointment
Located at the corner of Bedford: 135 Broadway, Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY

Group Show of Members of the WAH Salon Art Club. Special live performances: Royhga Katsuma, Saturday, Jan. 17 5 pm, Japanese “Kami-Shibai” traditional picture storytelling. Zach Fuller, Saturday, Jan. 17 and Sunday, Feb. 15, 5:30 pm “Into the Shiny Battle,” Dance/Music collaboration with Zack Fuller and Gordon Beeferman. “Cryptic, but characterized by astonishing theatricality.” – Boston Herald

MTA vs. Google Earth

MTA vs. Google Earth (detail) 60" x 58" digital print

My piece puts the New York subway map over satellite images from Google Earth which show the locations of MTA and other rail stations.

The New York subway map doesn't fit the satellite view because it has been intentionally distorted to make it easier to use. This practice evolved gradually over the history of such maps. The breakthrough was the map of the London Underground by Harry Beck in 1931. A collection of London tube maps can be fround here.

The satellite view isn't the "true" one. The Google map is also a distortion because it compresses a section of a sphere into a 2-dimensional rectangle. Both maps fill different functions by creating different fictions. In the work you can see how the stories relate to each other.