UPDATE AND REFLECTION

For three weeks across April to May, we worked with the French artist JR and his global participatory project, Inside Out. They stationed a photo booth in Times Square in which anyone could come and take a self-portrait that would then be printed on 3’x4’ poster and pasted on the ground of Duffy Square. The result was a collage of faces looking up at the thousands of daily passers-by. It was a massive success. And once we occupied the ground, we started eyeing other surfaces in Times Square on which the project could grow.

JR already had an idea. While at the opening of the project, he looked at a building with empty billboards. He looked at me -- and I said, ‘I know. One step at a time. I may have a contact who has a contact.’

Two weeks later, the entire two sides of that building facing into Times Square were pasted with portraits of average New Yorkers and visitors from around the world. A week later a large eye was pasted onto the roof’s billboard, expanding the work’s reach beyond those in Times Square to those above Times Square as well.

At the same time, we were in discussions with NYC Department of Design & Construction (DDC) about the construction site fencing that will be moved through Times Square over the next three years – as part of the city’s major redesign to the Broadway pedestrian plazas. While a very welcome and necessary project, it presents a challenge for us at Times Square Arts: how to best program public art in Times Square while major parts of its most public spaces are closed for construction. Our answer: have a rotating contemporary art gallery, using the construction fencing as canvases.

By doing this we stay true to our public arts mission while simultaneously providing the contractor with a way to beautify the construction site.

We thought the best way to put forward a call for artists for this project was to start by showing them the range of opportunities. JR and Inside Out manipulated the portraits taken in Times Square and offered to be the first artists to create work specifically for the construction fencing. Now, as we approach additional artists, there is an existing installation design that can help them imagine the possibilities. (see image 1)

RECENT WINS

Public Sector: Commissioner Burney of the DDC accepted our rotating contemporary art gallery proposal to help us keep public art programming in the Times Square pedestrian plazas alive during a period of major construction. NYC Parks has worked with us to break new boundaries with a multi-week participatory pasting event.

Private Sector: 701 Broadway’s venture capital organization Wickoff Group donated billboard space as they plan a redesign of their building. Now, as seen in the image from our Summer Solstice yoga event, what was a vacant eyesore is now a platform for contemporary art. (see image 2)

Artist: JR’s successful site-specific installations have often resulted from collaborating with a site directly, and without including the broader community, as a way to protect the work’s integrity. Our work with him in Times Square marked the first time JR pushed his practice to engage with local agencies and businesses, as well as with individuals. It may have been the more time consuming path, but it gained him new access and visibility, while maintaining crucial control over his artistic vision.

INSIGHT/PROVOCATION

As we are in one of the world’s most photographed locations, there is a shared vested interest in how we activate our spaces during this transition period.

Art as a tool – we hear this mantra often. Yes, art when created with consideration of its site and community can be an instrument for positive change, a part of the act of fixing or adjusting a place. But art does not deliver in isolation; there needs to be sensitive and respectful collaboration amongst a range of stakeholders. Often our role is that of translator, as well as curator and producer. We teach collaboration and help grow an artist’s concept of working with ‘community’ to encompass ‘communities’ of individuals, as well as public and private sector organizations.