Have you ever taken off your shoes and crawled barefoot in Times Square? No? What about splayed your body across a green screen and then had your larger-than-life image projected onto electronic billboards? Not that either?
This weekend, Spanish artist Daniel Canogar will be filming participants (including Elmo and Naked Cowboy... or YOU) crawling across a horizontal green screen in Times Square. The images will then be projected onto the infamous Times Square LED screens and billboards each night in September as part of a series called Midnight Moment. If you’re still waiting for your 15 minutes of fame, this could be it.
“What have I gotten myself into?” Canogar wondered the previous night in Times Square, a place where things start to get strange once the sun sets.
But the freakout was temporary. In fact, Canogar feels at home amidst the blinding lights of Broadway and giant golden arches––his work often consists of large scale public works. Like the time he hung recycled electronics across the American Museum of Natural History. Or when he painted the vaulted ceiling of a bridge in Madrid with human constellations. “Maybe I’m a megalomaniac," he told us in an interview Thursday. "I feel more comfortable with large scale. I'm better at big. I can easily do Times Square, but a little, small piece is very hard for me... I don’t know exactly why.”
If appearing on a billboard sounds appealing––and there were plenty lined up to participate––perhaps there's a little megalomania in all of us. This writer, for one, thought the crawling experience was fun and surreal (but also wanted to shower immediately afterward).
Considering that the space where these works of art will be displayed is usually occupied by Cokes the size of redwood trees and massive M&Ms, it’s pretty ironic that this prime advertising real estate will be kidnapped by high art. Sherry Dobbin, director of Times Square Arts, referred to it as “a commercial break.” And, indeed, the show is actually presented by the Times Square Advertising Coalition (as well as the Times Square Arts Alliance and bitforms gallery).
Art or no art, some people don’t particularly enjoy the mayhem of Times Square. Dobbin said, “You’re simplifying your experience into one action. All you do is crawl from point A to point B.” Well, when she put it that way, it almost sounded like meditation.
When he was asked to do the project, Canogar's first idea was to incorporate crawling. “I love to see people do something they don't normally do in everyday life. But as infants, we all crawled––the first movement we have in the world is to explore space and crawl away from our mothers. It was our first adventure.”
From crawling away from our moms and dads to crawling up a skyscraper in Times Square, we’ve come a long way. Or maybe we haven’t.
Storming Times Square takes place from July 24-27 from 9 AM - noon and 4 - 7 PM at Duffy Square, at Broadway and 46th Street.
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Naked Cowboy crawls across the green screen. Photo courtesy of bitforms gallery
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Elmo also participated. Photos by Austen Rosenfeld
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This weekend, Spanish artist Daniel Canogar will be filming participants (including Elmo and Naked Cowboy... or YOU) crawling across a horizontal green screen in Times Square. The images will then be projected onto the infamous Times Square LED screens and billboards each night in September as part of a series called Midnight Moment. If you’re still waiting for your 15 minutes of fame, this could be it.
“What have I gotten myself into?” Canogar wondered the previous night in Times Square, a place where things start to get strange once the sun sets.
But the freakout was temporary. In fact, Canogar feels at home amidst the blinding lights of Broadway and giant golden arches––his work often consists of large scale public works. Like the time he hung recycled electronics across the American Museum of Natural History. Or when he painted the vaulted ceiling of a bridge in Madrid with human constellations. “Maybe I’m a megalomaniac," he told us in an interview Thursday. "I feel more comfortable with large scale. I'm better at big. I can easily do Times Square, but a little, small piece is very hard for me... I don’t know exactly why.”
If appearing on a billboard sounds appealing––and there were plenty lined up to participate––perhaps there's a little megalomania in all of us. This writer, for one, thought the crawling experience was fun and surreal (but also wanted to shower immediately afterward).
Considering that the space where these works of art will be displayed is usually occupied by Cokes the size of redwood trees and massive M&Ms, it’s pretty ironic that this prime advertising real estate will be kidnapped by high art. Sherry Dobbin, director of Times Square Arts, referred to it as “a commercial break.” And, indeed, the show is actually presented by the Times Square Advertising Coalition (as well as the Times Square Arts Alliance and bitforms gallery).
Art or no art, some people don’t particularly enjoy the mayhem of Times Square. Dobbin said, “You’re simplifying your experience into one action. All you do is crawl from point A to point B.” Well, when she put it that way, it almost sounded like meditation.
When he was asked to do the project, Canogar's first idea was to incorporate crawling. “I love to see people do something they don't normally do in everyday life. But as infants, we all crawled––the first movement we have in the world is to explore space and crawl away from our mothers. It was our first adventure.”
From crawling away from our moms and dads to crawling up a skyscraper in Times Square, we’ve come a long way. Or maybe we haven’t.
Storming Times Square takes place from July 24-27 from 9 AM - noon and 4 - 7 PM at Duffy Square, at Broadway and 46th Street.
Naked Cowboy crawls across the green screen. Photo courtesy of bitforms gallery
Elmo also participated. Photos by Austen Rosenfeld
