New York City, 1981 - 1983: 36 Months That Changed the Culture

T Magazine – "New York City, 1981 - 1983: 36 Months That Changed the Culture"

"Of course, inhabitants of other great metropolises experience similar sensations, but the feeling is more intense in New York, in part because the city is both younger than and smaller than many other places that have at one point of another determined the global cultural agenda. How is it, then, that a town with millions fewer people than Tokyo, Mexico City, Beijing, Sao Paulo or Mumbai has been responsible for such a disproportionate amount of the aesthetic language and iconography of the modern age? Perhaps the answer is that this city – like this country – is composed significantly of migrants, and New York has always been the place to prove your mettle. Our fierce, collective ambition – our determination to be the "best," however you define the word – contributes not only to the city's thrum (and everyday brutalities), but is also responsible for the excessiveness of our output. Anyone who comes here knows that time is merciless and life is brief; one is always aware (sometimes consumingly so) of one's place in the race."

- T Magazine Editor Hanya Yanagihara