Midnight Moment: A Decade of Artists in Times Squa...

The first and only book on Times Square’s iconic Midnight Moment series, the world’s largest and longest-running digital public art program

Presented nightly to millions of viewers each year, Midnight Moment showcases the work of contemporary artists on one of the world’s most iconic canvases – the electronic billboards of Times Square in New York City. A collaboration between Times Square Arts and artists – both established and emerging – this is a coordinated display of cutting-edge moving-image content and has earned the distinction of being the world’s largest and longest-running digital public-art program. Synchronized on over 90 billboard screens in the heart of Times Square nightly from 11:57 pm to 12:00 am, Midnight Moment has brought innovative and accessible public art to local and global visitors for more than a decade.

A celebration of this monumental platform for public art, this eponymous retrospective memorializes ten years of the more than 130 artists that have participated in the program. The complex and immersive experience of public art in Times Square is brilliantly captured in this book with reflections from some of the program’s most notable artists; and behind-the-scenes information about how it’s coordinated, executed, and commemorated.

Featured artists include Jeffrey Gibson, Shantell Martin, Christian Marclay, William Kentridge, Rashaad Newsome, Nick Cave, Pipilotti Rist, Laurie Anderson, Yoko Ono, Tracey Emin, Björk, JR, Isaac Julien, Ryan McGinley, Alfredo Jaar, Charles Atlas, Marco Brambilla, Andy Warhol, Shahzia Sikander, Fischli & weiss, Alex Da Corte, Alex Prager, Sophie Calle, Chitra Ganesh, Peter Campus, Lucy Raven & 13BC, Allison Janae Hamilton, David Hockney, Studio DRIFT, Cory Arcangel, and Joan Jonas.

About the Author

Jean Cooney is the Director of Times Square Arts and VP of Arts & Culture for the Times Square Alliance.

Charlotte Kent, PhD, is an arts writer and Associate Professor of Visual Culture at Montclair State University.