Commissioned by MTA Arts & Design, "The Fluid" is a series of animation created by Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist Chris Doyle based on the cycle of paintings, The Course of Empire, by Hudson River School painter Thomas Cole. With its stylized depictions of landscape, the piece weaves together references not only to Hudson River painting, but also to 20th-century abstraction and Japanese Edo painting, which is from the same historical moment.

The animation focuses on the rhythmic aspects of water at every scale, from phase change to the global water cycle, and the increasing anxiety over the fragility of that cycle. Presented as a constant flow, the piece drifts between figurative and abstract forms, and is deployed throughout Fulton Street Transit Center to echo the tidal motion of daily commuters passing by.

The work is presented by MTA Arts & Design with technical support from Westfield Properties and ANC Sports. The 52-channel animation will air simultaneously for 2 minutes, at the top of each hour throughout the day, and will be on view in Fulton Center from September 2017 through early spring of 2018.