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A Pause in the City that Never Sleeps by Sebastian Errazuriz

01.16.15 | By
A Pause in the City that Never Sleeps by Sebastian Errazuriz

Sebastian Errazuriz is hoping to turn Times Square into one giant snoozefest with his new art installation “A Pause in the City that Never Sleeps”.

With support by the Times Square Alliance / Times Square Arts, PS122 and COIL15, every night in January at 11:57 PM, Sebastian’s 3-minute video graces the Times Square’s spectacular signs at 42nd-47th Streets, between Broadway and 7th avenue.

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There is a special artist reception tomorrow, January, 17th at 11:45 PM in Duffy Square.

The slow-paced, black and white video is a stark contrast to the usual colorful, over stimulating advertisements Times Square is known for. The video contains no camera movements, no editing cuts and no motion graphics. Essentially, it’s Sebastian’s face, yawning. Gigantic. Everywhere.

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I love this because it can be interpreted as a personal reaction to being overwhelmed with advertisements, so overwhelmed that it becomes underwhelming. Or, as an act of protest in a more active way – to get people to also yawn and “wake up”. A protest that you just can’t resist – it’s contagious!

When asked if the project was strictly criticizing the market, he expressed he also finds himself tired of how the art market in influencing much of the current artistic production. Sebastian says of the project: “I’m yawning at everything and all of us; we need to wake up”.

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The project is part of Midnight Moment, a monthly presentation by The Times Square Advertising Coalition (TSAC) and Times Square Arts. The video is shown simultaneously in approximately 50 different screens within Times Square.

Jaime Derringer, Founder + Executive Editor of Design Milk, is a Jersey girl living in SoCal. She dreams about funky, artistic jewelry + having enough free time to enjoy some of her favorite things—running, reading, making music, and drawing.