Joshua Frankel's 'Art at Amtrak' Video Installation to Debut at Moynihan Train Hall

Amtrak has announced a new large-scale animation commissioned from Joshua Frankel will be on view at Moynihan Train Hall beginning September 15. Entitled Within the crowd there is a quality, the work will be displayed on the 160-foot-wide, state-of-the-art 4mm LED digital screens at the Train Hall until November 14.

The artist is also on view this fall in a companion exhibition at Hesse Flatow from November 1 to 18, featuring work created in conjunction with the video installation. For more information, visit hesseflatow.com.  

“Amtrak is incredibly pleased with the continued success of Art at Amtrak and how the program has evolved to showcase video works,” said Amtrak Vice President, Northeast Corridor Service Line Jina Sanone. “We look forward to showcasing Josh’s animation inside the well-loved Moynihan Train Hall concourse.”

Within the crowd there is a quality is the second in a series of video works for Art at Amtrak presented at Moynihan Train Hall for two months each, in partnership with Empire State Development (ESD). Frankel’s installation follows The City is My Refuge: In Motionby Derrick Adams and animator Jahmir Duran-Abreu. The works display every 15 minutes.

“ESD is committed to making Moynihan Train Hall—the greatest gateway to New York—reflect and inspire its unparalleled creative spirit. We’re thrilled to partner with Art at Amtrak to highlight world-class artists and welcome visitors and daily commuters to pause for a moment along the journey, look up and enjoy.” said Rebecca Pellegrini, Executive Director, Moynihan Train Hall for ESD. “Joshua Frankel, who grew up a short walk from the Train Hall, wonderfully encapsulates New York’s dynamism—we couldn’t be more proud to host his work for all to enjoy.”

According to Frankel, Within the crowd there is a quality is the first piece in a new body of work about crowds, inspired in part by experiences of solitude during quarantine and the hunger for collective experience that followed, as well as the writings of Nobel Prize-winner Elias Canetti on the subject of crowds. The work consists of animation loops—created using traditional cel animation—based on the people of New York City, and combined into an organic crowd. Over the course of the animation, the walking speeds of the pedestrians change imperceptibly until, for a brief moment, all of the footsteps find perfect synchronization. Then, they fall back into routine. 

Frankel’s most recent previous work is A Marvelous Order, an opera about Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses with animation throughout that Frankel co-conceived with composer Judd Greenstein and US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith. Animations that Frankel created for this opera, evoking the patterns that Jacobs saw in pedestrian movement are some of the seeds for this new body of work about crowds. 

In a career spanning films, opera, animation, drawings, prints, public art, and multi-disciplinary experiences, Within the crowd there is a quality is particularly meaningful for Frankel. He grew up ten blocks uptown from the station, and both of his grandfathers worked for the postal service—one of them in the James A. Farley Building, which now houses Moynihan Train Hall. For more information on the artist, visit joshuafrankel.net. 

Amtrak launched Art at Amtrak in June 2022 in New York Penn Station. The program has commissioned installations by various New York and New Jersey based artists including Derrick Adams, Dennis RedMoon Darkeem, Dahlia Elsayed, David Rios Ferreira, Ghost of a Dream, Shoshanna Weinberger and Saya Woolfalk. Adams was the first artist to create original digital work for the four large screens in Moynihan Train Hall. The Metropolitan Lounge at Moynihan Train Hall features new work from multidisciplinary visual artist Karen Margolis, on view through Summer 2024.

Art at Amtrak is curated by Debra Simon Art Consulting. Simon was Director of Public Art at the Times Square Alliance; created Arts Brookfield, the largest privately funded public art program in the United States; and co-founded the River to River festival. 

The Moynihan Train Hall Public Art Program was established by Empire State Development, which led the development of the Moynihan Train Hall project with partners Amtrak, MTA Long Island Rail Road, and Vornado Realty Trust. The program features three monumental permanent installations by renowned artists Kehinde Wiley, Elmgreen & Dragset, and Stan Douglas commissioned by ESD in partnership with the Public Art Fund. 
 

About Amtrak

For more than 50 years, Amtrak has connected America and modernized train travel. Offering a safe, environmentally efficient way to reach more than 500 destinations across 46 states and parts of Canada, Amtrak provides travelers with an experience that sets a new standard. Book travel, check train status, access your eTicket and more through the Amtrak app. Learn more at Amtrak.com and connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.