In 1977, the artist Max Neuhaus transformed a triangle of steel grates in New York’s Times Square into an unassuming piece of sound art.

Discrete and hidden, the work is a serendipitous discovery for pedestrians. When standing above, they’re presented with soothing hums generated by electronic sound generators, a loudspeaker, and the subway noises below.

But Neuhaus’ Times Square isn’t the only piece of sound art that has made it to the iconic Manhattan neighbourhood. 

The Times Square Alliance was founded in 1992 and works to “improve and promote” Times Square.

Under its “Times Square Arts” public art programme, artists are invited to project synchronised artworks across a selection of the highly-coveted digital screens and billboards.

According to the alliance, there are a whopping 312,000 visitors strolling about Times Square every day.

The most active and longest-running programme by Times Square Arts is “Midnight Moment” – where for three minutes each night, from 11.57pm to midnight – art is projected across 92 billboards.  

This programme boasts an estimated viewership of nearly 1.5 million each year and celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2022.

Opportunities to project audiovisual works are limited, though; amplified sound is highly regulated and there are strict noise ordinances enforced across the neighbourhood.

But, there have been loopholes.  

Continue reading to discover works of sound art that have landed in Times Square over the years.

RYOJI IKEDA’S ‘TEST PATTERN’

Test Pattern. Photo: Ka-Man Tse for Times Square Arts.

If you’ve ever seen a work by the Japanese artist and composer Ryoji Ikeda reminiscent of barcodes with contrasting screens of black and white, it’s likely to be part of his “test pattern” series.

First commissioned in 2008 by the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media in Yamaguchi, Japan, the series has drastically evolved over the years and has been presented in Paris, Gwangju, Lyon, London, Sydney and more.

In 2014, the Times Square Advertising Coalition and Times Square Arts commissioned an edition of test pattern that took over the neighbourhood’s famed screens in an audiovisual experience that seemingly came out of the blue for passers-by.

Test Pattern. Photo: Ka-Man Tse for Times Square Arts.

Under their “Midnight Moment” programme, between 11.57pm to midnight every day for the entire month of October 2014, Ikeda’s flickering pattern took over various screens.

On one of the days, 400 headphones were handed out to pedestrians on a first-come, first-served basis.

This marked the first time sound was incorporated into the “Midnight Moment” programme.

MAX NEUHAUS’ ‘TIMES SQUARE’

View of Max Neuhaus’s Times Square in New York City. Credit: Found5dollar/Wikimedia Commons

If you look closely, you’ll stumble across American artist Max Neuhaus amongst the chaos of Manhattan – and more specifically, at Broadway between 45th and 46th.

Titled Times Square, the artist’s sound sculpture sees a triangle of steel grates transformed into soothing sound hums generated by electronic sound generators, a loudspeaker, and the subway noises below.  

First installed between 1977 and 1992, the work was later reinstated in 2002 and is currently managed by the Dia Art Foundation.  

A formal establishment of the sound art discipline notably peaked in the late 1960s, and Neuhaus was a major player (which was covered in our previous story).

JHEREK BISCHOFF’S ‘CISTERN’

Cistern by Jherek Bischoff. Photo: Lovis Ostenrik for Times Square Arts

Broadway isn’t the only spot to catch a show in Times Square.

For two days in August 2016, the composer and musician Jherek Bischoff’s “Silent Orchestra” – composed of musicians from the Contemporaneous orchestra – performed live music from the artist’s Cistern album.

Four hundred passers-by received headphones and were able to listen to the orchestral concert as they watched a synchronised video with Bischoff in a tuxedo projected on some of the screens.

For those who couldn’t access headphones, the performance was visual.

The video art was also projected on all nights of the month between 11.57pm to midnight under the Midnight Moment monthly presentation. 

The show was presented in partnership with the Williamsburg performing arts organisation National Sawdust, with whom the composer presented an album release concert.

CHRISTINE SUN KIM’S ‘DEAR ESSENTIAL WORKERS’

Christine Sun Kim, Dear Essential Workers, 2020. Commissioned by Times Square Arts, For Freedoms, and Poster House. Courtesy of Times Square Arts. Photo: Maria Baranova.

The artist Christine Sun Kim explores how sound operates in society in relation to her Deafness.

While she doesn’t incorporate the use of sound in her work, her studies and critiques of auditory impressions have challenged the notions of what constitutes sound art.

The Times Square Arts 2020 campaign “Messages for the City” invited various artists to share messages of gratitude and solidarity across New York’s screens and billboards during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.  

Christine Sun Kim, Dear Essential Workers, 2020. Commissioned by Times Square Arts, For Freedoms, and Poster House. Courtesy of the artist and François Ghebaly Gallery. Photo: Maria Baranova.

In one of her various iterations for the rotating displays in Times Square, Kim’s message featured “DEAR ESSENTIAL WORKERS”, plus “THANK” and “YOU” split from one another with wide spacing in the middle.

SOUNDWALK COLLECTIVE’S ‘JUNGLE-IZED’

JUNGLE-IZED by Soundwalk Collective. Photo: Ka-Man Tse for Times Square Arts.

This is like having the heart of the Amazon transported right into Times Square.

In 2016, the experimental sound group Soundwalk Collective presented their multidisciplinary installation under Times Square Arts’ “At the Crossroads” and “Midnight Moment” programmes.

The “At the Crossroads” programme allows for installations and performances around the district.

By downloading the JUNGLE-IZED app, visitors could take self-guided tours around an eight-block area in Times Square in a participatory audio experience.

JUNGLE-IZED by Soundwalk Collective. Photo: Ka-Man Tse for Times Square Arts.

In a virtual soundscape composed by the collective and recorded by the sound artist Francisco Lopez, app users navigated the district with narration by Amazon experts Jeremy Narby and Daniel Pinchbeck, as well as the voices of Shipibo shamans.

Under the “Midnight Moment” programme, each night in April 2016, a video directed by Soundwalk Collective’s Stephan Crasneanscki was projected between 11.57pm to midnight.

Continue exploring:

• Exploring Carsten Nicolai’s Audiovisual Work
• Leaping Into The Metaverse: The 3 IRL Art Galleries Pioneering NFTs
• Bioart: The Discipline Of Straddling Art And Science
• Art Or Sound | Ryoji Ikeda’s Data-Centric Pursuits
• Seeing is Revealing: In Conversation with Emmanuel Van der Auwera
• Sonic Art: An Overview

Cover Credit: Seribisognaesserlo/Wikimedia Commons

Writer | Bana Bissat

Bana Bissat is a Milan-based writer who reports on sound art for Sound of Life. She has written for Flash Art, Lampoon, and Cultured. @banabissat

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