What is UPL?
UPL emerges from a study of reading and readers in New York’s underground public transit system. It was designed as part of the Guggenheim Museum's stillspotting nyc exhibition, a two-year multidisciplinary project that identifies and creates "stillspots," moments of relief and respite from the bustle of of the city.
UPL began with the idea that the act of reading itself creates a personal stillspot. Reading focuses the mind and transports the reader. By redirecting attention away from the noise and activity all around, the reader goes down a rabbit-hole into his or her own personal psychogeography and the terrain of what is read. This makes a hole (a stillspot) in the fabric of the city.
How it works
UPL collects information about what and where people are reading underground. Readers catalog reading material according to subway lines. Readers may also leave or take PDFs to be read on the subway.
To see what people are reading, click on a colored subway line in the bottom left sidebar.
To tell others what you are reading (or what you saw others reading), click on the ENTER DATA link.
For more information about the project and some of the data it is based on, click on About UPL.
To download a PDF, click on UPL PDF Editions.
And to see analysis of some of the data we are collecting, click on the News link.