{"id":311712,"date":"2026-08-01T23:17:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T23:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/311712\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T23:17:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T23:17:07","slug":"just-a-pure-weird-moment-art-project-takes-over-manhattan-subway-kiosk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/311712\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Just a pure weird moment’: Art project takes over Manhattan subway kiosk"},"content":{"rendered":"

A whimsical sight awaited subway riders wandering the downtown B, D, F and M train platform at the West Fourth Street station on Saturday afternoon: a newly reopened newspaper kiosk with nothing for sale. Instead, there were free zines, a \u201ctrain aura\u201d photo booth and a very limited supply of lucky rat foot keychains.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a pure weird moment,\u201d said the man behind the project, Al Mullen, 37.<\/p>\n

Mullen is the creator of Public Transport Magazine, the free guerilla subway zine<\/a> that has featured writing from the New Yorker\u2019s Jia Tolentino and comedian David Cross. Subway riders can sometimes find issues left on seats or wedged between the glass on subway train ads.<\/p>\n

Mullen\u2019s West Fourth Street takeover is part of the MTA\u2019s Vacant Unit Activation Program<\/a>, which allows artists to install projects in unused spaces throughout the subway system, like newspaper kiosks. Previous projects have included Rex\u2019s Dino Store at Grand Army Plaza, which features a giant papier-mache dinosaur and is described by the MTA as \u201ca childlike exploration of what it\u2019s like to be a New Yorker \u2014 if you\u2019re also a dinosaur.\u201d<\/p>\n

The West Fourth Street kiosk includes free copies of Mullen\u2019s zines, and guides to several subway stations, although he only has six so far. Tolentino\u2019s guide to Hoyt-Schermerhorn describes the station as an \u201cessential worker\u201d or a \u201cgrilled cheese and carrot juice.\u201d Former \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d writer Jack Handey penned the guide to 23rd Street. Mullen hopes to eventually stock the kiosk with guides to all 472 subway stations.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aIt’s a nice little surprise in the midst of your day, which I think is just very classic New York,\u201d said \u200aVeronika Orlovska, 23, who was stopping by the newsstand on her way home to Bed-Stuy. \u201cI think so many of us are just on our phones and just going about our lives, that this is just a moment to pause and reflect and talk to people around you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting the space ready was grueling for Mullen. The heat on the platform was intense. And then there was the dust in the disused newsstand. \u201cCollecting disgusting dust. Not even dust, collecting evil, hellish material,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The kiosk will be open from 1 p.m. until at least 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays for the next year. Mullen hopes to have different events each weekend, including puppet shows, stand-up comedy and live music.<\/p>\n

The MTA\u2019s Vacant Unit Activation program began in 2023 as a response to shrinking demand for retail leases in the subway system.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs demand for retail space has evolved in recent years, these units have experienced vacancy because their size limitations, shape, or location, make them challenging for revenue-generating businesses to utilize them for traditional retail,\u201d the MTA said in a statement.<\/a> \u201cThe program is intended to encourage visually appealing and engaging uses to make stations more welcoming and whimsical spaces for riders.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MTA currently has four vacancies for kiosks in other stations, including the downtown platform at 23rd Street-Lexington Avenue, the Kew Gardens-Union Turnpike\u200b\u200b mezzanine, the Sterling Street mezzanine and multiple spots at 42nd Street-Port Authority Bus Terminal.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aI’ve worked so many jobs where you do the same commute all the time, every day is the same, and it can be kind of crushing. I just want a way to sort of disrupt and make something strange and funny and silly and frivolous,\u201d Mullen said. \u201cI think if we could be entertaining for six minutes, it’s a huge success.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A whimsical sight awaited subway riders wandering the downtown B, D, F and M train platform at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-311712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}