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 Applause from Los Angeles-based photographer and filmmaker Alex Prager.
In the heart of the Theater District, Applause turns viewing expectations upside-down, exposing the underlying tension between a performer and audience. Prager inserts viewers into the role of the performer, looking out at a costumed audience applauding on an eerily endless loop. Surrounded by larger-than-life cheers across the screens of Times Square, viewers’ everyday lives become the show, inviting them to consider elements of performance not just within the boundaries of a stage, but within quotidian activities like tourism and people-watching. The cheering actors, filmed within the Opéra Bastille, stare directly at onlookers directly in loops just short enough to feel unnatural, continuing Prager’s psychological examination of the complex dynamics that exist between the individual and the crowd and the emotional effect of two opposing viewpoints: the watcher and the watched.
Check out the announcement page for more info on Applause.
via Times Square NYC
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.
Something wrong with this post? Let us know!
