PHOTOS: Psychedelic LED Hive Lightshow Opens Inside Bleeker Street Subway Station

Busy bee New Yorkers now have a hive to call their own, and it's a color-changing, <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/leo-villareal-to-create-giant-glowing-led-buckyball-for-madison-square-park/">LED-laced</a> one at that. <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/the-hive-bleecker-street-subway-station-gets-decked-out-with-color-changing-led-light-sculpture/">Hive</a>, which is the work of artist Leo Villareal, has finally opened to the public (though we use the term "opened" quite loosely considering the debris and blockades still surrounding it) at the <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=bleecker+street+station+nyc&ie=UTF-8&ei=T8whUIeiNqPi0QGu34HQBg&ved=0CFwQ_AUoAg">Bleecker Street subway station</a> in Manhattan, and we were on the scene to witness it in all its glory. Step into our gallery to see our photos of this psychedelic new art installation and the full spectrum of colors that flow through it every New York minute.

Artist <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/leo-villareal-to-create-giant-glowing-led-buckyball-for-madison-square-park/">Leo Villareal</a> was commissioned by the MTA to create <a href="http://mta.info/mta/aft/permanentart/permart.html?agency=nyct&line=6&station=22&xdev=2340">Hive</a> as part of the <a href="http://mta.info/mta/aft/index.html">Arts for Transit</a> initiative, which aims to brighten up the interiors of our notoriously dingy and decrepit subway stations with eye-catching works of art.

A closer look at the LED light tubes that make up Hive.

As you probably were able to surmise, the color-changing LED lightshow is named for its honeycomb shape.

The work also seems to play on the idea that we are all worker <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/swarm-of-thousands-of-honey-bees-delays-delta-flight-to-nyc/">bees</a> traveling through a series of tunnels, just like our favorite yellow and black insects do.

And if you want to get really cerebral, Villareal says that he also took inspiration from mathematician <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Horton_Conway">John Conway</a>, who is known for his work with coding and game theory.

Passersby can tap into their inner desire to find meaning and patterns in their surroundings and interact with Hive by identifying individual elements within its larger context.

Hive as seen from below during a flow of red light.

The individual light tubes allow for Hive to display an infinite number of color combinations.

From reddish...

To blueish...

To everything in between.

Want to see Hive for yourself?

Head to the <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=bleecker+street+station+nyc&ie=UTF-8&ei=T8whUIeiNqPi0QGu34HQBg&ved=0CFwQ_AUoAg">Bleeker Street station</a>'s Uptown-bound 6 track and walk to the southern end of the platform.