Freedom Tunnel

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The Freedom Tunnel is home to a legendary series of graffiti murals painted in the Amtrak tunnel under Riverside Park in Manhattan, New York City. The tunnel is named after the graffiti artist called "Freedom Chris" who painted the "Coca-Cola" mural.

The name may also be a reference to the freedom one may find in this tunnel-- a freedom to live unobserved, freedom to create artwork-- and freedom from rent. (The tunnel has served as a home for many people who could not find a place elsewhere.)

History

The tunnel was built by Robert Moses in the 1930s so that the trains could run along the Hudson River while still allowing riverside access for nearby residents. Oddly, the expansion of highways in the same area by Robert Moses effectively block easy access to the river. Thus the tunnel serves to extend the park area over the former rail yards but falls short of the original goal of easy access to the waterfront.

After it was completed, the train tunnel was not used for long. It was abandoned. 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.

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.

The artwork

Since the tunnel is isolated, the artists took their time and create ambitious pieces. The tunnel has unique lighting provided by the ventilation ducts. (When walking through Riverside Park one may pass over many of these grates.) 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 recreation of Goya's The Third of May and original portraits rendered in 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 and the city.

There is still a lot of the original graffiti there and for urban explorers it's not hard to find an opening.

Access

The entrances to the tunnel are quite intimidating. Those who love and wish to preserve the graffiti have asked that the entrance remain secret in the interest of preventing Amtrak or the the city from panicking and installing more effective means of security. 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 one from the speeding trains. While preservation is probably the best route to save the artworks, graffiti purists rightly criticize the institutionalization of such a sacred place. They feel it would kill the energy of the artwork and turn yet another corner of Manhattan in to a theme park.

Sources

• The Tunnel. By Morton, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995
• Dark Days (2000) Director: Marc Singer

External links

• http://www.undercity.org/stories/amtraktunnel.htm
• http://lostcityexplorers.net/freedom.html
• http://www.urbanlens.com/files/freedom/freedom.html

 

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