Artwork Details
- Title
- Grand Central Station #2
- Artist
- Date
- 2009
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 33 x 44 x 15 in. (83.8 x 111.8 x 38.1 cm)
- Copyright
- © 2009, Jim Campbell
- Credit Line
- Museum purchase made possible by the American Art Forum
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- custom electronics, LEDs, and mounted photo-transparency
- Classifications
- Highlights
- Keywords
- Architecture Exterior — civic — Grand Central Station
- Object Number
- 2010.22A-C
Artwork Description
Jim Campbell’s Grand Central Station #2 consists of a grid of LED lights that illuminate an image of the main terminal at Grand Central Station in New York City. The point of view, hovering above the marble floor as shadows pass through the terminal, mimics that of contemporary surveillance systems. The artwork functions as a layered schematic diagram of the structures of human psychology and memory, and challenges technology’s ability to accurately represent the human experience.
Watch This!: Revelations in Media Art, 2015
Grand Central Station #2 is a major artwork by one of today's leading media artists. Jim Campbell has developed a sophisticated methodology to create his visually complex aesthetic. His custom electronics and the circuit-design element of his digital programs bring a new dimension to contemporary art. The articulating movement of figures walking through the terminal in Grand Central Station #2 subtly shifts our perception of the pictorial plane in relation to the still photographic image. The result is a haunting meditation on architectural surface as a reflection of memory.
Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2010