Cable Crossing

1996 Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall / Chambers Street (4, 5, 6, J, M, Z) New York City Transit

The Brooklyn Bridge's pioneering use of steel cables and a suspended roadway are repeatedly referenced in the design of artist Mark Gibian's work. Within the west mezzanine a web of cables recalls the graceful forms of the bridge, while overhead a 30-square foot structure, suspended beneath a skylight, frames the cable work. At the turnstiles, three panels that also use cables serve as a functional barrier. For the artist, the "lacy" curves of the panels "echo the beauty of the bridge's cross-hatched cables and the feeling of flight as it springs across the East River." The energy of “Cable Crossing” suggests "the controlled power of the subway and its network of metal and concrete that undergirds the city. I wanted to explore movement, using soft curves with hard materials," Gibian says.