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Video: Inspired Straphangers Try Sleeping On Strangers' Shoulders
By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 14, 2013
Modified Nov 14, 2013
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 14, 2013
Modified Nov 14, 2013
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You may recall that last week a photo of a black man sleeping against an orthodox Jewish man's shoulder on the subway went wildly viral and renewed some people's faith in humanity or whatever. Charidy was inspired by that photo, and decided to try out their own version of it and see how many people would let a random person sleep on them on the subway. Let's just hope this doesn't become a trend, because c'mon.
But that's not all! George Ferrandi, a Brooklyn-based installation and performance artist, also went around the subway trying to rest her head on the shoulder of strangers. "Many New Yorkers offered me the same gentle comfort that he afforded the sleeping man next to him," she told us. "But it should be said that those folks who would not allow this slightly intimate contact with someone they didn’t know were really just honoring a kind of unspoken social contract we share on the train and in other crowded spaces. New Yorkers must constantly make these unconscious decisions, attempting, I think, to carve out some private space in a city that can be so aggressively public."
Her take on it seems pretty reasonable, and you can read more about her experiment (and see photos) here. Back in the spring, comedian Stuart Edge also tried this subway sleeping thing out, although with less altruistic interests.
Tagged
feelings
humanity
MTA
sleeping
subway
the Internet
train
virality
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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