Alexander Chen has created an interactive musical project, The Conductor, based on New York's subway system.

The New York artist based the structure and scale of his project on the original subway map created by Massimo Vignelli in 1972. Following this pattern, the live art piece works as a musical instrument within this frame according to real-time. With each train that departs, this triggers a string which plays a note according to its length on the subway map. As the tip of a string approaches another, it plucks the string creating a series of random melodies over the course of 24 hours.

Although the project acts within Vignelli's structure, Chen made a few tweaks to the Conductor due to the recent closure of some lines. As a result, ghost trains that represent these forgotten routes run between the early hours of the morning. Additional variations were also made to the project due to the technicality of time and the number of trains running simultaneously. However, this does not detract from Chen's ironically calm homage to New York's hectic underground.

To view Alexander Chen's MTA Conductor Project, watch the video below or click here to see it in action.

(Via Trendland)