UPL News
June 1, 2011: Underground Public Library, now with more SPYING... and a chance to win tickets for the Guggenheim Museum's first stillspotting nyc edition by Pedro Reyes.
Dear Friends of the (UP) Library,
Thanks to all of you who have contributed data in UPL's first month. You can see some of the results here (with more to come). We have started to build some knowledge about what NYC is reading underground -- and here's a clue: it's NOT the New York Times Bestseller List.
We are happy to announce that we are improving UPL's service in three ways:
---> First, we invite you to spy. We don't advise disturbing fellow riders -- but we do encourage you to jot down titles you see. We have a suspicion that some of you are only reporting your highbrow reading habits, yet based on our initial survey, we KNOW that at least 30% of us are secretly reading... fluff!
--> Second, we are now able to offer prizes now to the top posters. This project was conceptualized and designed for the Guggenheim's stillspotting nyc exhibition, so the two people who post the most titles at UPL during the first week of June will receive a free ticket to the Pedro Reyes stillspotting edition, Sanatorium (June 2–5 and 9–12, 2011). Just go to this link to enter data. And carry a notepad when you ride!
---> Third, check out a growing set of data viz at the May Data page. And send recommendations for what you want to see to gretabyrum at gmail.!
Check back here June 8 for an announcement of the winners.
More about stillspotting nyc after the jump.
All best wishes,
your Librarian.
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stillspotting nyc: While the vitality and stimulation of the urban environment can be pleasant, for those living in or visiting densely populated areas the ever-present cacophony of traffic, construction, and commerce can be a relentless assault on the senses. The Guggenheim Museum responds with stillspotting nyc, a two-year multidisciplinary project that takes the museum’s Architecture and Urban Studies programming out into the streets of the city’s five boroughs. Every three to five months, “stillspots” are identified, created, or transformed by architects, artists, designers, composers, and philosophers into public tours, events, or installations.
The Pedro Reyes edition: In his temporary clinic, Sanatorium (installed as the first edition of stillspotting nyc in Brooklyn), artist Pedro Reyes combines the best of New York’s existing therapy landscape with unexpected, short, experimental treatments. In two-hour windows, Sanatorium visitors experience up to three sessions from a roster of sixteen special “urban therapies.”