MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

Study #2 in the Panel Negotiating the Use of New York City’s Shared Public Spaces

Passengers must pay to take a subway train, but there is no requirement of payment to be in the train station nor an expectation of being in the station for the purpose of transportation, thus making the station a public space. However, subway trains are simultaneously open public spaces and public transportation that allow people to access other public spaces. They are also public in the sense that people meet and congregate in subway stations by chance or by intention. We tend to forget what public space actually is because in today’s cities it is very difficult to find a place that does not belong to some person, institution, or business. Performers are acutely aware of this difficulty of finding an open public space because that is the ideal real estate for them to practice their art and earn a living. They are constantly looking for appropriate public spaces to make their own.

This study focuses on the use of public space by subway performers in Manhattan subway stations. We conducted 40 interviews with performers as well as observations in the subway stations to reveal how subway performers use this public space and how they negotiate use of the space as a community. This presentation will focus on the relationship between street performers, their sound, and the public space they choose to perform in as well as how they negotiate use of this space with others.