ART-TRIBUTE:Times Square Midnight Moment

Times Square’s Midnight Moment is an art initiative by Times Square Arts in which all of the billboards in Times Square synchronize to show an audio/visual art piece at exactly 11:57pm everyday for 3 minutes. The program premiered in April 2012 and is organized and supported by the Times Square Advertising Coalition in partnership with Times Square Arts.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Time Square Arts Archive

Many artists have participated in the Times Square Midnight Moment, among them we present you the works of: Robert Wilson, Tracey Emin, Shahzia Sikander, Andy Warhol, Isaac Julien, Takeshi Murata and Yoko Ono. The official premiere of Midnight Moment was by Robert Wilson’s “Video Portraits” in May 2012. “Video Portraits” has toured the globe in some of the most prestigious museums, galleries and public spaces. The exhibition’s for the Midnight Moment included video portraits of actors, artists, dancers, writers, athletes, people of all backgrounds, and animals that reflect the breadth of Wilson’s career. Tracey Emin’s moving series of neonworks, “I Promise To Love You”, in February 2013 was comprised of six written love messages animated especially for Midnight Moment. In this unique moving image, the glowing words, made of neon lights, slowly spell themselves out, as if being written by a ghost or an invisible presence. Shahzia Sikander’s manipulated hundreds of digitally animated drawings to create the idea of swarming, or collective behavior, as an observable phenomenon in “Gopi-Contagion”, which was shown on October 2015. On May 2015, were shown 10 of the ‘60’s Andy Warhol “Screen Tests” of Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, Lou Reed, Harry Smith and Edie Sedgwick, among others made in his studio, the Silver Factory. On December 2013 Isaac Julien created “Playtime”, a three-minute visual impression of the full-length film, showcasing the diversity of landscape as highlighted by exceptional color and shot with 4K technology. The work consists of three chapters, each devoted to a city defined by its own relation to capital: London, a metropolis transformed by the deregulation of banks and a center of the commercial art world, Reykjavik, where the 2008 financial crisis began and Dubai, one of the Middle East’s fastest-growing financial markets. “Playtime” follows five main characters identified as The Collector, The Houseworker, The Artist, The Auctioneer, and The Reporter, examining the ways in which these diverse subjects are entangled in capital and implicated in the global financial crisis. Takeshi Murata’s digital animation for the November 2012 Midnight Moment. “Melter 2”, was an abstract experiment in hypnotic movement and color, was screened as a massive multi-channel installation on a monumental scale. The piece was presented on fifteen of the Square’s iconic outdoor video signs throughout seven city blocks of Times Square every night. On December 2012 a visual message of peace greeted New Yorkers and visitors of the Square, “Imagine Peace” was artist Yoko Ono’s worldwide initiative of anti-violence. In the film, IMAGINE PEACE was written in 24 languages set over the tranquil imagery of a blue sky background. The piece was transformed into a multi-channel work specifically for the Midnight Moment.