The Port Authority Bus Terminal isn’t one of the places New Yorkers often look upon with awe. In fact, the ailing terminal even managed to snag a spot on Curbed’s list of New York City’s ugliest buildings, as told by our readers. So news that the reviled building will become home to an art exhibit might seem a bit strange, especially considering that the terminal itself is the inspiration behind the artwork.
Landscape photographer Tony Gregory has put together “PABT Time Lapse 2017,” a series of time-lapse videos depicting the terminal’s traffic during its busiest hours as hundreds of thousands of commuters pass through its passageways (h/t Port Authority Portfolio). The videos will loop on a display screen, surrounded by several still-life photographs that Gregory captured around the terminal.
Though reconstruction of the aging bus terminal is still in the wind, Gregory felt the urge to create “PABT Time Lapse 2017” to document the building in its last days as is. “I thought there was no better time to document the building and its surroundings so that in the future, people can enjoy seeing what this neighborhood of NYC once looked like,” he stated. He may be onto something, given that there’s a possibility that one of these five proposals could be the Port Authority Bus Terminal of the future.
“PABT Time Lapse 2017” is being exhibited at the terminal’s South Wing near the Ninth Avenue entrance now through the end of April.