Midnight Moment to Feature Björk’s Video for Mutual Core, Specifically Edited for the Times Square Screens

Monthly Program is Organized and Supported by the Times Square Advertising Coalition in Partnership with Times Square Arts

March 2013, every night from 11:57pm – midnight

A video by internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter Björk will be shown every night in March as part of a synchronized program on over fifteen of the largest digital signs in Times Square.  Björk’s work, Mutual Core, will premiere just before midnight on March 1st and play throughout the month as part of the Midnight Moment, a presentation of the Times SquareAdvertising Coalition (TSAC) and Times Square Arts.   Directed by Los Angeles-based filmmaker Andrew Thomas Huang, this video has been edited specifically for the digital signs and is part of Björk’s Biophilia Series, combining music with technological innovation and exploring themes of science and nature. In the video, the forces of nature explode across a futuristic landscape where volcanoes erupt from a desert floor, a snowstorm transforms the environment, and anthropomorphic rocks come to life orbiting around a goddess of nature.   The original version of the video was created by MOCAtv for the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. This Midnight Moment presentation is part of the New York City launch of Streaming Museum’s Nordic Outbreak, an internationally touring exhibition of leading contemporary Nordic artists.

Björk said: "I am very excited about my Mutual Core video being shown at Times Square!  Seems like the united screens there are going to have a go at matching the energy of the volcanoes in the video!  Good luck Manhattan!!”

Alan High, Chairman of the Times Square Advertising Coalition and President & General Manager of Clear Channel Outdoor Spectacolor & Mall Divisions, said: “The signs of Times Square are known the world over as the best place to display new and exciting content.  We are delighted to showcase Björk’s fascinating film, which will surely capture the attention and imagination of Times Square visitors and locals alike.”

Tim Tompkins, President of the Times Square Alliance, said: “In her style and her art, Björk is a master at getting us to stop and notice. In this month’s Midnight Moment, which is both surreal and startling, Björk reaffirms Times Square’s role as a place where people can come to stop and notice, and take in something edgy, interesting, and beautiful.”

Nina Colosi, Streaming Museum Founder and Creative Director said: “Björk and director Andrew Thomas Huang have mixed fine art and pop culture in the music video, Mutual Core. Björk is beautifully and playfully intertwined in the realms of human, nature and universe, a philosophy that inspires her work. This fascinating silent remix of the music video made for the Times Square Midnight Moment transports the piece even further into the realm of visual art.”

Björk’s Mutual Core was directed by Andrew Thomas Huang and commissioned by MOCAtv, the newly launched, contemporary art video channel, developed as a digital extension of the education and exhibition programming of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Björk is an internationally renowned singer-songwriter who has often collaborated with filmmakers and artists, including Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Lars Von Trier, and partner Matthew Barney.

Mutual Core Midnight Moment teaser: http://bit.ly/MOCAtvBjorkTimesSq

Björk’s Midnight Moment exhibition is a prelude to the New York City launch week of Streaming Museum’s Nordic Outbreak, an internationally touring exhibition of over 30 contemporary Nordic artists. From March 31 to April 6 a series of events will take place, among them, exhibitions in public spaces including Dag Hammarskjold Plaza and Scandinavia House; social events; a lecture at The New School, and a symposium at Scandinavia House with Nordic artists, theorists, and curators of the exhibition. Among the artists to be exhibited are Eija-Liisa Ahtila, J Tobias Anderson, Björk, Jesper Just, Hannu Karjalainen, QNQ/AUJIK, Dan Lestander, Una Lorenzen, Egill Saebjornsson, and Superflex. For more information please visit http://nordicoutbreak.streamingmuseum.org/

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, formerly known as Times Square Moment: A Digital Gallery, 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. Past artists featured in the program include 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; Brian Gonzalez (aka Taxiplasm);and Yoko Ono. For more information on past projects, please visit www.TimesSquareNYC.org/MidnightMoment.

Each night, Times Square becomes a digital art gallery through dazzling visuals on select billboards and newsstands. Every show begins at 11:57pm with a "countdown" that signals the start of the 3 minute nightly presentation. Content changes monthly; selected works are announced in the weeks preceding the start of a new show as are the exact signs participating in that month's selection.

The following digital screens are participating in the March Midnight Moment: ABC Super Sign, American Eagle Times Square, Bank of America, CEMUSA, City Outdoor, Disney, JVC Screen, NASDAQ, Spectacolor HD129 / Times Square Museum & Visitor Center Marquee, ClearChannel HD128, Spectacolor HD127 / CNN Screen, Times Square Museum & Visitor Center, Viacom North & South (SL Green Realty) Thomson Reuters, and 7TS (7 Times Square). 

Guidelines for artist and designer participation in future programs are located on the Times Square website.

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, The Times Square Alliance, The WOW Factor and Thomson Reuters.  www.timessquareadcoalition.org

Times Square Arts, the public arts program of the Times Square Alliance, presents leading contemporary art and performances in multiple forms and media to more than 400,000 daily visitors to New York City’s Times Square, making it one of the highest profile public arts programs in the United States. Since its inception, Times Square Arts has featured works by a diverse group of more than five dozen prominent and emerging artists. Working in partnership with cultural institutions and festivals, the program is further supported by Rockefeller Brothers Fund and, the Department of Cultural Affairs of NYC. Visit www.TimesSquareNYC.org/arts for more information. Follow us on Twitter @TSqArts

About the Artists

Björk collaborated with app developers, scientists, writers, inventors, musicians, and instrument makers to create a unique exploration of the universe and its physical forces—particularly those where music, nature and technology meet. The project is inspired by and explores these relationships between musical structures and natural phenomena, from the atomic to the cosmic. Born Björk Gudmundsdottir on November 21, 1965, in Reykjavik, Iceland., Björk founded the band the Sugarcubes in 1986 before striking out on her own to a hugely successful solo career in 1993. In 2000, Björk appeared on the big screen in the critically acclaimed film Dancer in the Dark. She also scored the film and won the Best Actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival for her performance.

Andrew Thomas Huang is a filmmaker and artist living in Los Angeles. His film "Solipsist" was honored at the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase at Cannes Lions and won Best Experimental Short Film at the Slamdance Film Festival.  Andrew's work has also been showcased at the Hammer Museum, MOCA Taipei, and ASVOFF at the Centre Pompidou.  Andrew graduated with a degree in Fine Art and Animation from the University of Southern California.   For more information visit the artist’s website www.andrewthomashuang.com

About Streaming Museum

Streaming Museum produces and presents contemporary-themed exhibitions of international multi-media arts, innovative ideas and related programs to a global audience via mobile devices, a network of big screens worldwide, and at cultural and public centers. Since its launch on January 29, 2008, exhibitions have been viewed on big screens in over 55 cities on 7 continents. Programs are generated in collaboration with a variety of cultural and educational organizations, prominent and emerging visual and performing artists, curators, and visionaries across fields.  For more information visit http://www.streamingmuseum.org/

About MOCAtv

MOCAtv, which launched October 1, 2012, is a new, online contemporary art video channel, and a digital extension of the education and exhibition program of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA). MOCAtv is the first and only dedicated art channel to be part of YouTube's original channel initiative announced October 2011, and one of fourteen new, original channels that make up YouTube Education, a collection of more than 700,000 videos on a wide range of educational topics from math to science, history to geography. MOCA is the first contemporary art museum to associate with a major media company in an online video-programming venture of this scale, and the new channel features curated and original videos to educate and engage the global, online audience about contemporary art and its intersection with film, video, music, performance, dance, comedy, and more.

WATCH and JOIN NOW at youtube.com/mocatv