Visual artist Laleh Khorramian will showcase her mystical film Water Panics in the Sea this January,launching the 2014 Midnight Moment program. The film follows the voyage of a ghost ship as it traverses the ocean waters, turning the “Crossroads of the World” into the “Crossroads of the Seas.”  Midnight Moment, a presentation of the Times Square Advertising Coalition (TSAC) and Times Square Arts, 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. January's Midnight Moment will be on view through January 31 and show every night from 11:57 p.m. to midnight.

Water Panics in the Sea is the fourth in a series of short films based on the five elements of Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Ether. The film, constructed through a process of magnification and manipulation of mono-type prints and drawings, seeks to question our habitual modes of perception with an intricate use of scale, distance, time and space. 

"While I stage my stories in fabricated worlds extracted from images, my films try to venture beyond veneers of reality and consciousness into the subconscious, seeking out the potential of fiction and poetry, of imagination and perversion, to access the withdrawn textures of human experience and history," said Laleh Khorramian. 

This month, The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations’ antipoverty agency, joins TSAC and Times Square Arts as an additional partner for Midnight Moment. Highlighting water and ocean sustainability issues, Water Panics in the Sea is a natural fit for UNDP. The film will be shown in UNDP offices across the globe in conjunction with a panel discussion on Monday, January 27, 2014 at 6:30 p.m. between artist Laleh Khorramian and Andrew Hudson, Head of the UNDP Water and Ocean Governance Programme, at the Duke Theater, 229 West 42nd Street, New York City. 

Abdel-Rahman Ghandour, acting Director of Communications at UNDP, said: “We are happy to partner with such a creative community on a topic—water—so close to our heart and work. The preservation of oceans is key to our survival on this planet. We welcome highlighting its central role through this beautiful artistic impression.”

Toby Sturek, Chairman of the Times Square Advertising Coalition, said: “Water Panics in the Sea is a captivating and mysterious film that is perfect for kicking off our 2014 Midnight Moment program, which is designed to capture the imagination and dazzle all who traverse Times Square. As the new Chair of the Times Square Advertising Coalition, I’m thrilled to be part of this great initiative to bring nightly creative content to the digital screens for free public art.”

Tim Tompkins, President of the Times Square Alliance, said: “By partnering with UNDP, we are helping to highlight their global focus on effective water governance to our visitors in the Crossroads of the World.”

Sherry Dobbin, Times Square Arts Director, said:  “Through an epic journey across mythical seascapes, Laleh Khorramian’s filmwill immerse the Times Square canyon with water. It is exciting that this emerging artist’s work is shared with UNDP, who will bring this Midnight Moment to their offices across the globe in a joint effort to show how artists and Times Square can bring a unique awareness to the global issues of our waterways and oceans.”

The following digital screens are participating in the January Midnight Moment: ABC Super Sign, American Eagle Times Square, Bank of America, CEMUSA, City Outdoor, 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). 

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; Brian Gonzalez (aka Taxiplasm);Björk; JR; Ryan McGinley; Jack Goldstein; Nature Theater of Oklahoma; Ezra Wube; and Yoko Ono. For more information on past projects, please visit www.TimesSquareNYC.org/MidnightMoment. Midnight Moment 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. Guidelines for artist and designer participation in future programs are located on the Times Square Alliance website.

About the Artist: Born in 1974 in Tehran, Iran, Khorramian lives and works in upstate New York. She studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and received her undergraduate degree at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, and her MFA at Columbia University, New York. Khorramian has exhibited internationally, including shows in MASS MOCA, U.S.A; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Art Basel Statements, Ballroom Marfa, Texas; Istanbul Museum of Art, Istanbul; and The Queensland Art Gallery, Australia. In 2013, she recently published her limited edition artist book Include Amplified Toilet Water.

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 to experiment and engage with one of the world's most iconic urban places. Acting as a laboratory for contemporary art in the public realm—a place where ideas are tested and new possibilities explored. Times Square Arts works with artists and cultural institutions to create dialogues with Times Square and all of its physical and mythological manifestations. Through the Square's electronic billboards, public plazas, vacant areas and popular venues, in addition to 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 by ArtPlace America and ArtWorks. Visit www.TimesSquareNYC.org/arts for more information. Follow us on Twitter @TSqArts and Instagram http://instagram.com/tsqarts

The United Nations Development Program, since 1966, partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. On the ground in more that 170 countries and territories, we offer global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations.