Release Date: Jun 23, 2014
Midnight Moment: Bright Canyon by Chris Doyle
July 1-31, 2014, every night from 11:57 p.m.–midnight
(New York, N.Y.) June 23, 2014 — Chris Doyle will transform the concrete jungle of New York City’s Times Square into a flourishing canyon landscape for three minutes every night in July as part of Midnight Moment. The artist’s film, titled Bright Canyon, will premiere just before midnight on Tuesday, July 1st, and play every night throughout the month from 11:57 p.m. to midnight on Times Square’s electronic billboards. Midnight Moment is a monthly presentation of The Times Square Advertising Coalition (TSAC) and Times Square Arts. The July Midnight Moment is presented in partnership with Andrew Edlin Gallery.
Brooklyn-based, interdisciplinary artist Chris Doyle has had his work exhibited throughout the U.S. and internationally. He creates both temporary and permanent urban projects that reside in impressive locations from museums like Brooklyn Museum of Art to multiple U.S. Ambassadors’ residences in Sweden and Australia. Most recently he was the recipient of a 2014 John Simon Guggenheim Foundation fellowship.
Bright Canyon reconnects Times Square to the natural world by conceiving of the space as a gorge. Referencing the history of Times Square as the confluence of streams, the district’s walls and screens are transformed into a canyon landscape, populated by a series of exuberant local animals. The cliffs are based on photos, drawings, and videos taken on the Palisades along the Hudson River. Most of the animated animals are based on video of animals observed in Central Park. By starting in the sky, descending the cliff, and finally plunging into the river, the motion of the animation unifies the variety of screens into a single, immersive environment.
Chris Doyle said, “It is not a stretch to imagine the flow of people and cars moving through Times Square as a river. With this animation, I literally remapped the cliffs of the Palisades onto the existing canyon-like space, making a new park in the center of the city.”
Sherry Dobbin, Times Square Public Art Director, said, “I love that Chris has pulled indigenous animals into our man-made gorge and made an amazing mash-up of what was here five hundred years ago, told through the contemporary canvas of digital signs.”
Tim Tompkins, President of the Times Square Alliance, said, “Doyle’s striking landscapes and graphics bring a different kind of life and vibrancy to our own urban jungle.”
Harry Coghlan, Chairman of the Times Square Advertising Coalition, said, “As returning Chair of TSAC, I am thrilled that the Midnight Moment program continues to showcase and curate innovative content from talented local artists like Chris Doyle. Times Square revelers will surely be enamored by this stellar piece that transforms the center of the concrete jungle into a vibrant, exuberant canyon.”
The following digital screens are participating in the July Midnight Moment:
ABC Super Sign, American Eagle Times Square, Bank of America, CEMUSA, City Outdoor, Disney Store Spectacular, JVC Screen, NASDAQ, Spectacolor HD129 / Times Square Museum & Visitor Center Marquee, ClearChannel HD128, Spectacolor HD127 / CNN Screen, Superior Digital Displays Three Times Square #5, Times Square Museum & Visitor Center, Viacom North & South (SL Green Realty), Thomson Reuters, 7TS (7 Times Square), and V Media Times Square.
About Midnight Moment
Midnight Moment is the largest coordinated effort in history by the sign operators in Times Square to display synchronized, cutting-edge creative content on electronic billboards and newspaper kiosks throughout Times Square every night. The program premiered in May 2012 and is organized and supported by the Times Square Advertising Coalition in partnership with Times Square Arts, the public art program for the Times Square Alliance, with additional partners of participating sign holders and artists.
Each night, Times Square becomes a digital art gallery through dazzling visuals on select billboards and newsstands. Every show begins at 11:57 p.m. with a "countdown" that signals the start of the three minute nightly presentation. Past artists featured in the program include Isaac Julien; Robert Wilson; Tracey Emin; Seoungho Cho; Vicki DaSilva, Surabhi Saraf, and Elly Cho; Erika Janunger; Takeshi Murata; Bel Borba with Burt Sun and André Costantini; Zach Nader; Brian Gonzalez (aka Taxiplasm); Björk; JR; Ryan McGinley; Jack Goldstein; Nature Theater of Oklahoma; Ezra Wube; Laleh Khorramian; Brian Dailey; Leslie Thornton; and Yoko Ono. For more information on past projects, please visit TimesSquareNYC.org/MidnightMoment.
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Times Square Advertising Coalition (TSAC) is a trade association comprised of major advertisers, retailers, real estate firms, media companies and other businesses involved in the outdoor sign industry in Times Square, along with organizations representing Broadway and the community. Members of TSAC include: ABC Regional Sports & Entertainment Sales, Clear Channel Spectacolor, Daktronics, D3 LED, Digital Domination, Hines Management, Jamestown One Times Square, Lamar Advertising Company, Landmark Sign & Electric, Metro Media Technologies, Newmark Knight Frank, North Shore Neon, P.R.omotion!, Sherwood Outdoor, SL Green, Times Square Alliance, The WOW Factor and Thomson Reuters. www.timessquareadcoalition.org
Times Square Arts, the public arts program of the Times Square Alliance, collaborates with contemporary artists and cultural institutions to experiment and engage with one of the world's most iconic urban places. Through the Square's electronic billboards, public plazas, vacant areas and popular venues, and the Alliance's own online landscape, Times Square Arts invites leading contemporary creators to help the public see Times Square in new ways. Times Square has always been a place of risk, innovation and creativity, and the Arts Program ensures these qualities remain central to the district's unique identity. Generous support of Times Square Arts is provided by ArtPlace America and ArtWorks. Visit TimesSquareNYC.org/Arts for more information. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @TSqArts.
About The Artist
Chris Doyle is an interdisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, New York. He has exhibited widely at venues in the U.S. and internationally including The Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Queens Museum of Art, MoMA PS1, MassMoCA, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, The Tang Museum, The Wellin Museum of Art, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Sculpture Center, and as part of the New York Video Festival at Lincoln Center and the Melbourne International Arts Festival. His temporary and permanent urban projects include commissions for the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia and the U.S. Ambassador's residence in Stockholm, Sweden, as well as for the cities of Melbourne, Australia, Edmonton, Canada, Culver City, California, Kansas City, Missouri, Tampa, Florida, Louisville, Kentucky, and Austin, Texas. His work has been supported by grants from the Creative Capital Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, NYSCA, and the MAP Fund. He is the recipient of a 2014 John Simon Guggenheim Foundation fellowship. Please visit chrisdoylestudio.com for more information.
Andrew Edlin Gallery was established in 2001 in a loft space in Chelsea with a program focused on outsider artists. In 2002, the gallery expanded to a larger space on 20th street and was recognized by the press for being the first to exhibit the work of Swiss artist Hans Krüsi in North America. The following year, Andrew Edlin Gallery presented a groundbreaking exhibition in a makeshift space near the Miami Beach Convention Center during Art Basel, featuring the works of Henry Darger, Adolf Wölfli, Martin Ramírez and other notable self-taught artists. In 2005, the gallery was granted exclusive representation of the estate of Henry Darger. In subsequent years, the gallery has participated in various art fairs, including the Outsider Art Fair, Art Forum Berlin, the Armory Show, Drawing Now Paris, the Dallas Art Fair and Art Basel Miami Beach. In the fall of 2009, Andrew Edlin Gallery relocated to a light-filled ground floor space in lower Chelsea where it continues to hold visually and intellectually provocative exhibitions of both trained and untrained artists. In recent news, the gallery has become the exclusive representative of the work of Marcel Storr, a previously unknown French artist whose 2012 solo exhibition at the Pavillon Carré Baudoin in Paris drew unanticipated crowds and was met with exceptional praise from critics.
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Media Contacts:
For Times Square Arts: Gia Storms (212) 452-5205 | gstorms@timessquarenyc.org
Daniela Stigh (212) 843-8269 | dstigh@rubenstein.com
For TSAC: Justine DiGiglio (212) 205-6632 | Justine@nicholaslence.com