Freedom Tunnel

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The Freedom Tunnel is the name given by urban explorers, graffiti artists, and a handful of homeless people to the Amtrak tunnel under Riverside Park in Manhattan, New York City. It is also the name of the legendary and constantly evolving graffiti pieces that cover the tunnel walls.

The Freedom Tunnel got its name because the graffiti artist Chris "Freedom" Pape used the tunnel walls to create some of his most notable artwork. [ [http://www.industrialnewyork.com/rail/2005-1-10-freedomtunnel/index.shtml Amtrak "Freedom" Tunnel New York, NY] ] [ [http://www.workingdefinition.com/Thesis/Chapter10.htm Mind Tracks: Modern Urban Undergrounds in Life, Literature, and Art] Chapter 10. 2004. Retrieved May 2, 2007]

The name may also be a reference to the freedom one may find in this tunnel, the freedom to live unobserved, the freedom to create artwork, and freedom from rent. ["The Tunnel." By Morton, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995, ISBN 059069149X] (The tunnel has served as a home for Mole people who could not find a place elsewhere.)

History

The tunnel was built by Robert Moses in the 1930s to expand park space for Upper West Side residents – although Moses's expansion of freeways in the same area effectively blocked access to the river. After it was completed, the train tunnel was not used for long. With the automobile and trucking taking over more of the city's transport needs, trains no longer ran along the West Side, and the giant, man-made caverns became a haven for homeless people. At its height, hundreds of people lived in the tunnel. On April 4, 1991 the tunnel was reopened for trains and a massive eviction followed. The shantytowns were bulldozed and the tunnel was chained off. ["Dark Days" (2000) Director: Marc Singer]

To this day, however, graffiti artists and a new, more secretive, population of homeless people continue to visit the tunnel creating artwork and maintaining a network of secret homes and entrances.Fact|date=July 2007

Artwork

Since the tunnel is isolated, the artists take their time and create ambitious pieces without fear of arrest. The tunnel has unique lighting provided by grates in the sidewalks of Riverside Park. The shafts of light create a gallery space for illegal artwork. Often, the artwork is centered under the light giving the space the feeling of a chapel or great cathedral.

Works include a chiaroscuro style study of the Venus de Milo, a re-creation of Goya's "The Third of May," and original portraits rendered with impressionistic splashes of color. The centerpiece of the tunnel is a mural painted in the style of a comic book that tells an abstract story that seems to reference the relationship of the former residents of the tunnel, the city, and the police.

Access

The entrances to the tunnel can be quite intimidating to some. There is an entrance on 125th street in the Riverside park area, as well as a set of stylized archways fronting the parkway near 89th street. There have been requests for historic landmark status, and for the creation of safe pathways. The greatest issue for Amtrak has been liability. The tunnel is dangerous because there is nothing separating visitors from speeding trains. While some feel preservation is probably the best route to save the artworks, graffiti purists criticize the institutionalization of what they feel is a sacred place.Fact|date=July 2007

See also

* Urban exploration

Sources

External links

* [http://www.citynoise.org/article/8210 "The Freedom Tunnel"] (Citynoise.org Photoblog)
* [http://www.undercity.org/stories/amtraktunnel.htm UNDERCITY: New York City: The Riverside Park Amtrak Tunnel (AKA Freedom Tunnel, Mole People Tunnel)]
* [http://quantum-x.ice.org/episodes/freedom-tunnels-new-york/ Photo Essay + Historical Background on the Freedom Tunnels accessed July 312007]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20060209090354/http://lostcityexplorers.net/freedom.html]
* [http://www.urbanlens.com/files/freedom/freedom.html urbanlens: freedom tunnel: pants, porn, and poultry] accessed May 22007
* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicalibre/217947332/in/set-72157594226924835/ freedom tunnel photos on Flickr.com, uploaded by view-askew] accessed May 22007
* [http://www.flickr.com/groups/freedomtunnel/ Freedom Tunnel Collection on Flickr.com, uploaded by Soupflowers] accessed May 302007
* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/kittenclaw/sets/72157601706472702/ Photographs of the Freedom Tunnel by Irene Tejaratchi]