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.
This month's Midnight Moment is a collection of video art called 'Pattern Language' from Brooklyn computer animation artist Peter Burr which uses tools and conventions from the video game industry to create unique visual art.
Pattern Language, built in a video game engine, is a rhythmic, strobing composition in richly patterned black and white. Employing cellular automata and crowd-simulation algorithms, Burr creates a fantastical vision of human life within a labyrinthine “Dirtscraper” – an inverted, underground skyscraper. Indistinct, nongendered figures in shades of grey walk through endless generative levels of lights and right angles, while others fill the screen with dots that bloom or wilt according to the classic “Game of Life” model developed by mathematician John Conway in 1970, in which each cell lives, dies, or revives depending on the “alive” or “dead” states of neighboring cells.
Check out the announcement page for more on 'Pattern Language'.
Matt Coneybeare
Editor in Chief
Matt enjoys exploring the City's with his partner and son. He is an avid marathon runner, and spends most of his time eating, running, and working on cool stuff.
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