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Public art · MBTA

HACKING THE SUBWAY

Public art in the MBTA

RoleArtist · Engineer
Year2026

Bought MBTA ad space and filled it with a glitchy terminal and QR codes that redirect riders into the work.

Overview

01

A QR-driven redirect system, self-hosted on Vercel, turned purchased MBTA ad space into a glitch terminal — riders who scanned were pulled straight into the work. It drew 205 responses.

In the car

Campaign

The cards

02

Every card is styled as a system readout: terminal text, a glitched figure, one line set large. Some ask riders a question (How do you stay optimistic? Who should control superintelligence?); others are written as file names, like THE_FUTURE’S KNOCKIN’.MP3 and MAKE_THE_DEVIL CRY.MP3. [ confirm: where each kind of card’s QR code goes ]

Where the code took you

Web experience

Result

03

205 responses. [ write: what riders said, and one or two answers worth quoting ]