Inspired by their upcoming exhibit NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star The New Museum has launched Recalling 1993, an interactive project utilizing 5000 pay phones across Manhattan, transporting people back to 1993 through today’s most underserved communication tool: the payphone.  

Distinguished as the momentous year that began to form contemporary New York, the exhibit’s title is taken from a Sonic Youth album recorded that year, seen to signify the bridge between mainstream and subculture.  

With stories hyperlocal to the phone you’re calling from, the project gathers vignettes of the past on topics from violence, hip hop, fashion, food, nightlife, culture, art and the mob, from journalists, sneakerheads, nuns, police officers, artists and the individuals at the center.