Daily What?! #MissingLove Missed Connection Posters in NYC Subway

Untapped Cities reader Avi Smolen took this photo in Columbus Circle on Sunday morning. Designed in the style of MTA announcements, “#MissingLove” proclaimed the poster. “OUR EYES MET” it continues, on the A train towards Brooklyn in November 2013 (why so late to post?). Then it has some descriptions of the two people in question, “You sneezed, I wrote. I got off at 14th Street, you didn’t.” The text “Pay Attention, This is About My Heart” is in three languages: English, Japanese and Hebrew. But a savvy friend of Smolen’s noted that the latter section was “not written by an Israeli, b/c the Hebrew is off… So I wonder who did it. Part of me is wondering if its a promo for something.”

Over the weekend, many of us hoped that these posters were actually a real missed connection attempt, but it is indeed just a viral marketing strategy for an art auction. According to MySubwayNYC, a Spanish installation and performance artist, Maria Luisa Portuondo Vila, is behind it. Vila is part of Laboratorio Escénsio Visual, an art collective and says this project is based on both art and reality.

Get in touch with the author @untappedmich. See more quirky NYC facts and discoveries in our “Daily What?!” series. Submit your own via Twitter with the hashtag #DailyWhat.