As part of the Midnight Moments’ presentations, the midnights of May 1 — 31, 2015, via many of Times Square’s large-format displays, will present 1960’s Andy Warhol Screen Tests of Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, Lou Reed, Harry Smith and Edie Sedgwick, among others that were made in Warhol’s “Silver Factory” studio. Shown publicly for the first time on Times Square’s electronic billboards, the show starts at 11:57 pm and ends at midnight each night in May, courtesy of the Andy Warhol museum.
In the mid-1960s, Warhol’s studio became a diverse scene of artists, friends, and celebrities, many of whom posed for short films titled Screen Tests. Warhol made almost 500 of these silent, slow-motion 16mm film portraits in the span of three years.
Midnight Moment 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. It’s 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.You can download an electronic billboards guide for Screen Tests 1964-66 here.
http://www.timessquarenyc.org/times-square-arts/projects/midnight-moment/index.aspx
Times Square, now a busy pedestrian mall that’s street-friendly at midnight, often becomes silent at 11:57 p.m., because, at that time, art (temporarily) conquers commerce and the three-minute “Midnight Moments” show – spread across a dozen or so large-format screens — begins. This month, its rare footage from Andy Warhol’ studio. Last month it was footage from Apollo XVIII, which was preceded by Marco Brambilla’s Much Better Than This; Rafaël Rozendaal’s A Pause in the City That Never Sleeps, and so on.
A sad rumor says that Roxie’s Time’s Square Deli has closed, so you’ll need to find another source for pre-show cheesecake. (The subway ride to Junior’s, in Brooklyn, is worth it, but another rumor says its closing soon, for remodeling…).