An average journey on the train doesn’t typically involve your mind being stimulated by intrusive and thought-provoking questions. Artist Barbara Kruger is looking to change this by challenging strangers with open-ended questions about power and privilege. The conceptual artist has partnered with Performa 17 – the New York-based art Biennial – to design a special one-off MetroCard, featuring questions like “Whose justice?,” “Who is housed?,” “Who is silent?,” and “Whose fears?”
The 50,000 limited edition MetroCards will be released with the bold red background and white writing in the renowned Futura font that Kruger is famous for. Could this be the artist’s way of getting back at Supreme? She has previously referred to the skate brand as “a ridiculous clusterfuck of totally uncool jokers”, following a lawsuit against a design label who they claimed appropriated their logo. Kruger responded at the time, saying that she hoped they would sue her for copyright infringement.
You might remember the skate brand created its own branded MetroCard earlier this year, that started riots and had to be shut down by the NYPD – you can now find them going for as much as £750 on eBay. The Kruger-designed cards will be available at vending machines at four different stations: Queensboro Plaza, Broadway-Lafayette Street, East Broadway, and 116th Street on the B and C lines.
Elsewhere at Performa 17, Kruger’s artwork will take over the LES Skatepark under the Manhattan Bridge and a billboard at 17th Street and 10th Avenue. The ribbon cutting event at the skatepark will take place under the Manhattan Bridge today at 10am. Entitled Untitled (Skate), the space will be open from November 1, through to November 19 Coleman Skatepark, 62 Pike Street.
Find out more information about Performa 17 here.
