Times Square is Yawning, Thanks to Sebastian Errazuriz

Taking over a massive array of Times Square billboards, 'A Pause in the City That Never Sleeps,' gives New York a reprieve from its daily hustle and bustle.

by Beckett Mufson

January 12, 2015, 11:30pm

A Pause in the City That Never Sleeps, 2015, via

Artist and designer Sebastian Errazuriz, who celebrated a 10-year retrospective in 2014, has kickstarted the new year by taking over a host of illuminated Times Square billboards for a nightly installation called A Pause in the City That Never Sleeps. Errazuriz's face has been replacing ads for soft drinks and upcoming films since Jan. 1, 2015, occupying the ever-present crowd with an image of his own face yawning for three straight minutes between 11:57 pm and midnight.

Since yawns can be contagious, tourists and Times Square vendors alike are given the natural suggestion to follow suit, creating a moment of open-mouthed rest and reflection within the bustling Mid-Manhattan center. "I intuitively trust that at times it is the importance of leaving a pause or a blank space that allows us to highlight and be aware of everything else that is in that space," Errazuriz says in a blog post by Times Square Arts, who produced the project in coordination with Performance Space 122’s COIL 2015 Festival.

A Pause in the City That Never Sleeps will reoccur every night throughout January as Times Square's first of 2015's Midnight Moments. On Jan. 17, the COIL Festival's final day, Errazuriz will appear in Times Square himself for a public, presumably yawn-filled gathering. The pause from NYC's normal Saturday night grind begins at 11:45pm, so as PS 112 urges, "Stay awake!"

via

A Pause in the City That Never Sleeps, 2015, via

A Pause in the City That Never Sleeps, 2015, via

A video posted by Sebastian Errazuriz (@sebastianstudio) on Jan 12, 2015 at 6:49am PST

Crazy. Biggest HD screen in the world. The size of a football field. #TimesSquare #Yawn #TimesSquareAlliance #nyc #StreetArt #PublicArt #MidnightMoment #SebastianErrazuriz @coil15 @ps122 @TSqArts "A pause in city that never sleeps"

A video posted by Sebastian Errazuriz (@sebastianstudio) on Jan 7, 2015 at 11:24am PST

Visit Errazuriz's website to see more of his often mind-bending, always clever artworks.

H/t ArtDaily

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