March 1-31, every night from 11:57pm-midnight

(New York, N.Y.) February 23, 2017 – In partnership with Moving Image Art Fair & Gazelli Art House, Times Square Arts presents artist Matteo Zamagni’s virtual reality film Nature Abstraction on Times Square’s electronic billboards from 11:57 p.m. to midnight every night in March. This project is a part of Midnight Moment, a monthly presentation by The Times Square Advertising Coalition (TSAC) and Times Square Arts.

Originally created in virtual reality and adapted for the screens of Times Square (a first for the Midnight Moment program), Nature Abstraction dives digitally into the vast complexities of three planets created through fractal formations. Zamagni’s floating fractals, inspired by altered states of mind, represent hidden structures of nature, allowing viewers to explore and view dimensions and biological forms that affect the physical world but are invisible to the eye. Partially processed through Google’s Deep Dream neural network, which recognizes features and creates visual iterations, the landscapes transform into psychedelic patterns and morph into shapes reminiscent of more familiar items like liquid or microchips.

Nature Abstraction, which marks Times Square Arts' fourth year of partnership with Moving Image Art Fair, will also appear in Moving Image Art Fair's inaugural Immersive Media exhibition featuring virtual and augmented reality. The 2017 Moving Image Art Fair will take place from February 27-March 2.  The work was previously exhibited in the exhibition, Interfaces(2015), at the Barbican, and in Gazelli Art House's VR group exhibition, Enter Through The Headset (2016).

Matteo Zamagni, Artist, said "I couldn't have wished for a better start to 2017 than taking part in Midnight Moment. I am so grateful for being part of such a great project. The overwhelming support I have received thus far means a lot to my practice.”

Edward Winkleman and Murat Orozobekov, Co-Founders of Moving Image Art Fair, partner, said, “It has become one of the highlights of the Moving Image New York art fair each year to see the artwork from one of the participating artists projected on the magnificent screens in Times Square for the Midnight Moment program. It’s such an amazing sight, and we are very grateful to the Times Square Advertising Coalition and Times Square Arts for their continued support in bringing these artists’ visions to the thousands and thousands of people who see Midnight Moment every month.”

Mila Askarova, Founding Director of Gazelli Art House, said, "We are delighted to announce Matteo Zamagni's inclusion in Midnight Moment for the month of March and would like to extend a big thank you to the committee and the organisers for their vision of Nature Abstraction taking over Times Square."

Tim Tompkins, President of the Times Square Alliance, said, “Zamagni’s alien landscapes, inspired by shapes too small to see, become larger than life as they expand and flow across our digital billboards.”       

Debra Simon, Times Square Arts Director, said, “Partnering with Moving Image Art Fair allows Times Square to spotlight some of the amazing work done by video artists, such as Zamagni’s piece – the first Midnight Moment originally created using virtual reality.”

Harry Coghlan, Chairman of the Times Square Advertising Coalition, said, “The iconic screens of Times Square are a perfect showcase for this month’s innovative Midnight Moment, which combines Google's Deep Dream technology with altered reality.”

The following digital screens are participating in the March Midnight Moment:

ABC SuperSign, American Eagle Times Square, Bank of America, Branded Cities 7 Times Square, Branded Cities NASDAQ Tower Times Square, Branded Cities Thomson Reuters, CEMUSA, City Outdoor, Clear Channel Spectacolor HD127/CNN, Clear Channel Spectacolor HD128, Disney Store Spectacular, Microsoft Cube and Welcome Center Live Tiles,  Morgan Stanley, Outfront Media 1515 Broadway/ Viacom North & South, Sherwood Equities 1 Times Square, SILVERCAST Digital Spectacular - Times Square, Superior Digital Displays Crossroads of the World, Triple Play on 7th Ave & The Waterfall on 42nd St.  

About Midnight Moment

Midnight Moment is the world’s largest, longest-running digital art exhibition, synchronized on electronic billboards throughout Times Square nightly from 11:57pm to Midnight. Presented by the Times Square Advertising Coalition and curated by Times Square Arts since 2012, it has an estimated annual viewership of 2.5 million.    

Past artists featured in the program include Alex Da Corte; Pipilotti Rist; Tal Yarden; Emilio Perez; Tim Etchells; Elizabeth Peyton and Kristian Emdal; Jherek Bischoff; Beau Stanton; Saya Woolfalk; Jennifer Steinkamp; Soundwalk Collective; Lorna Mills; Peter Fischli and David Weiss; Laurie Anderson; Antony Nagelmann; Jesper Just; Shahzia Sikander; Rashaad Newsome; Osgemeos; Eric Dyer; Richard Garet; Andy Warhol; Peggy Ahwesh;  Marco Brambilla; Rafaël Rozendaal; Sebastian Errazuriz; Charles Atlas and Antony; Noah Hutton;  Ryoji Ikeda; Daniel Canogar; Alfredo Jaar; 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: http://www.timessquarenyc.org/times-square-arts/projects/midnight-moment/index.aspx

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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. Follow TSAC on twitter at @TSACNYC.        

Times Square Arts, the public art 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 the. New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Visit http://www.timessquarenyc.org/times-square-arts/index.aspx for more information. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @TSqArts.

Matteo Zamagni is a new media artist based in London. He expresses his ideas through multi-media platforms: video direction, real-time and off-line graphics and interactive installations. The root of his projects comes from ongoing research into the connections between spirituality and sciences. He explores the boundaries between the physical and the invisible dimensions, the macro and micro scale of matter, the conscious & unconscious mind. Winner of the Lumen Prize for Mixed Reality (2016), Zamagni has exhibited at The Barbican (2015), Tate Modern (2016) and gives talks and workshops throughout the UK and internationally. http://alt-o.com/.  Follow on Twitter: @cia_ooo and on Vimeo at: matteozamagni.  

Moving Image Art Fair was conceived to offer a viewing experience with the excitement and vitality of a fair, while allowing moving image-based artworks to be understood and appreciated on their own terms. Participation is by invitation only. The newly formed Moving Image Curatorial Advisory Committee for New York 2017 is inviting a selection of international commercial galleries and non-profit institutions to present single-channel videos, single-channel projections, video sculptures, and other larger video.  Visit http://www.moving-image.info/ for more information. Moving Image Art Fair on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/movingimageartfair/; on Twitter:  @movingimageinfo; on Instagram: @movingimageartfair. #miny17 #miim17

Contemporary art gallery Gazelli Art House supports and presents a wide range of international artists, presenting a broad and critically acclaimed program of exhibitions to a diverse audience through international exhibition spaces in London and Baku. Gazelli Art House was founded in 2003 in Baku, Azerbaijan and from 2010, having hosted conceptually interlinked off-site exhibitions across London, founder and Director of Gazelli Art House, Mila Askarova, opened a permanent space on Dover Street, London in March 2012. In 2015, the gallery launched its Digital Art House, www.gazell.io, an online residency for artists working in the digital and virtual reality realm occasionally to crossover with an exhibition in the physical gallery space. The inaugural show of this crossover was with Matteo Zamagni and the group exhibition, Enter Through The Headset.  Visit http://gazelliarthouse.com/ for more information.  Gazelli Art House on Facebook: www.facebook.com/GazelliArtHouse; on Twitter:  @GazelliArtHouse; on Instagram: @GazelliArtHouse.