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Every night in June from 11:57pm to midnight, over 90 electronic billboards in Times Square will broadcast a "reality-bending film" by artist Marco Brambilla.
Called Approximations of Utopia, the production uses artificial intelligence and archival images "from world fairs dating back to the 50s to create a vision of a futuristic, utopian world fair," according to an official press release.
The initiative coincides with the 60th anniversary of the 1964 World's Fair, which took place at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens.
The location of the one-month-long broadcast speaks to the project's intention as well. In the videos, Brambilla basically reimagines the world's fair as a proposition unbound by geography and conflict. Times Square, an area visited by folks from all over the world, is the embodiment of that multiculturalism.
Approximations of Utopia, which is part of Times Square Arts' Midnight Moment program, joins another out-of-the-ordinary public art project in the area: a giant hot dog that has taken up residence in the middle of Times Square and shoots confetti into the air every day at noon.
As funny as the 65-foot-long wurstel drenched in mustard is, the message behind it is a pretty lofty one. The work "paints a unique portrait of America," reads an official press release. Brooklyn-based artists Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw, the creators of the sculpture, hope it will entice folks to talk about "the patriarchy of meat-eating," what meat production in the U.S. entails, the politics of street vending, capitalism, immigration and more.
A mere walk through Times Square will now force you to confront a slew of global issues that actually deserve our attention.