At World Trade Center Exhibit, Young Artist Honors Friend He Lost
A plaintive homage to a fallen friend, by a 16-year-old artist, is now on display at NYC Culture Club, a non-profit art organization in the World Trade Center complex that offers exhibition space to multi-media visionaries.
The exhibit, “NYC: Innervisions,” contains a video, “Underworld: A Memorial to Kosse Laureano (2004-2022),” produced by Alexander Antelman, who was a close friend of the 17-year-old named in the title. Mr. Laureano, a thrill-seeking “subway surfer” (the title claimed by those who ride between the roofs of trains and the ceilings of the tunnels they hurtle through) was killed last August when he plummeted from the top of a moving 7 train near Hudson Yards, and fell beneath its wheels. (The New York Police Department officially began compiling statistics about subway surfing only this year. Since that time, four people have died in the pursuit.)
Mr. Antelman’s film is a haunting montage of still photographs and selfie videos taken by Mr. Laureano, overlaid with text messages, such as the one he received from his friend’s mother: “Hey do you know where Kosse is? He didn’t come home last night.”
“I made it with the intention to stop kids from wanting to train surf, and to maybe rethink what they’re doing,” says Mr. Antelman.
“NYC: Innervisions” will be on display at NYC Culture Club (located in the South Concourse of the Oculus, 185 Greenwich Street) through August 5 (Wednesdays through Sundays, from noon to 7pm).