The Corners Project

Bankers, b-boys, and why diversity and solidarity are not NYC’s strangest bedfellows.

New York City. Was there ever a more diverse, colorful and eclectic hub of humanity? Fascinated by the incredible hearth of culture that is NYC, strategic planner and hobbyist photographer Friko Starc set out to document it at its rawest, most candid form. For three years, he took portraits of strangers and passers-by at five Manhattan corners in what became The Corners Project, an inspired cross-section of New York’s living matter.

The five corners where the candid, spontaneous portraits were taken — Clinton & Rivington, Chrystie & Grand, Wall & Broad, Lex & 116th, 19th & 8th — stretch all across the island, from Chinatown to Wall Street, Lower East Side to Chelsea to Spanish Harlem.

From hipsters to homeboys, executives to entertainers, the project spans the entire social spectrum, with all its vibrant richness and charming quirk. Often presented in pairs, the portraits bespeak a unique blend of diversity and solidarity, the unmistakable we’re-in-this-together-ness of New York.

Last September, All Day Buffet awarded The Corners Project as one of the 100 best New-York-centric creative initiatives. And we tend to agree.

The project is part Ari Versluis’ fascinating Exactitudes, part Jason Polan’s wonderful illustrated Every Person in New York, with its own gritter, more unfiltered take on the ambitious goal of cataloging NYC’s incredible diversity and energy.

Explore The Corners Project and find it on Facebook, then go stake out a street corner of your own and marvel at the living runway of urbanity.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 5:29 am in culture, photography and was tagged cool, culture, guerrilla, photography.

The Corners Project: 3 years, 5 corners, 100’s of candid photos – a brilliant portrait of NYC http://ow.ly/11bXJ

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

brainpicker on January 28th, 2010 at 6:30 am

The Corners Project: 3 years, 5 corners, 100’s of candid photos – a brilliant portrait of NYC http://ow.ly/11bXJ RT @brainpicker

milagro88 on January 28th, 2010 at 6:32 am

RT @milagro88: The Corners Project: 3 yrs, 5 corners, 100’s of candid photos– a brilliant portrait of NYC http://ow.ly/11bXJ RT @brainpicker

admrich on January 28th, 2010 at 6:36 am

3 years, 5 corners, 100’s of candid photos – a brilliant portrait of NYC http://ow.ly/11bXJ RT @brainpicker RT @milagro88

arkarthick on January 28th, 2010 at 6:40 am

RT @arkarthick: 3 years, 5 corners, 100’s of candid photos – a brilliant portrait of NYC http://ow.ly/11bXJ RT @brainpicker RT @milagro88

RainerGS on January 28th, 2010 at 6:44 am

The Corners Project, diverse bedfellows in NYC ( http://bit.ly/aSa2GG )

ScopeMedia on January 28th, 2010 at 7:35 am

3 years, 5 corners, 100’s of candid photos – a brilliant portrait of #NYC http://ow.ly/11bXJ RT @arkarthick @brainpicker @milagro88

keithalink on January 28th, 2010 at 2:04 pm

@keithalink 3 years, 5 corners, 100’s of candid photos; brilliant portrait of #NYC http://ow.ly/11bXJ RT @arkarthick @brainpicker @milagro88

Annemazer on January 28th, 2010 at 2:08 pm

RT @keithalink 3 yrs,5 corners,100’s of candid photos – brilliant portrait of #NYC http://ow.ly/11bXJ RT @arkarthick @brainpicker @milagro88

WaltPascoe on January 28th, 2010 at 2:16 pm

If you missed it: The Corners Project – for 3 years, Friko Starc has been photographing strangers at 5 NYC corners http://ow.ly/11bXJ

brainpicker on January 28th, 2010 at 3:28 pm

RT @brainpicker If you missed it: The Corners Project – for 3 years, Friko Starc photographing strangers at 5 NYC corners http://ow.ly/11bXJ

noahlsinger on January 28th, 2010 at 3:31 pm

RT @brainpicker: If you missed it: for 3 years, The Corners Project has been photographing strangers at 5 NYC corners http://ow.ly/11bXJ

frikonyc on January 29th, 2010 at 7:02 am

Is this published? I would love to see the artist do The Corners Project all over the world. From some of the daily pics posted on the facebook page he seems to travel quite a bit.