Under Bryant Park

2002 42nd Street–Byrant Park/Fifth Avenue (B, D, F, M, 7) New York City Transit

One of the largest artworks in the MTA system runs under 42nd Street along the corridor connecting the lines with the . Above the site is the Main Branch of the New York Public Library and Bryant Park, which are reflected in the artwork below. On the walls of the tunnel, commuters see rock outcroppings, tree roots, pipes, animal burrows, and literary quotations. Artist Samm Kunce based the project on the idea of systems. In her words, "People travel the subway system, water and other utility services are delivered by pipes, and plants and trees that provide grace and softness against the city's sharper edges find their way to water and nutrients underground through a system of roots. In a similar way, literature is shared by systems of learning and lending, and many animals inhabit systems of burrows just as humans systematically divide portions of larger habitats aboveground." At the west end of the tunnel, color asserts itself in a frieze of rock and plant forms with a quote from psychologist Carl Jung: "Nature must not win the game, but she cannot lose."