OFFLINE
OFFLINE
About the project
“OFFLINE” is a digital art commission by Nancy Baker Cahill that transforms the Grand Central Madison concourse into an imagined underground terrain. The three‑minute moving‑image work presents an unnaturally beautiful landscape in constant motion, where 40 endangered or extinct species drift briefly into view before dissolving away. Layering graphite and neon graffiti‑paint drawings with real and simulated fireflies, spider webs, plumes of smoke, and drifting fog, the piece evokes the sensation of watching passing scenery from a train window. Its atmosphere draws on Baker Cahill’s childhood memories of long road trips spent studying shifting landscapes and inventing stories from patterns in clouds, trees, and distant homes.
Created to mark MTA Arts & Design’s 40th anniversary, “OFFLINE” underscores the fragility of real‑world ecosystems while celebrating the role of imagination in envisioning new futures. “OFFLINE” was produced with support from Local Formations.
About the artist
Nancy Baker Cahill is a transdisciplinary artist whose immersive works address perception, networked power, and nonhuman intelligence through participatory, research-driven experiences. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of 4th Wall, a free AR public art platform launched in 2018 to expand access to experimental public art and collaborative worldbuilding. Her work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including the Whitney Museum of American Art, LACMA, the Hammer Museum, and Desert X. Fellowships include the Berggruen Institute and the Weibel Institute for Digital Cultures. She is the recipient of a LACMA Art + Technology Lab Grant, a C.O.L.A. Master Artist Fellowship, the Williams College Bicentennial Medal of Honor, and a United States Artists Fellowship.