Times Square Arts and CIRCA Present Lifeworld by Olafur Eliasson for November 2024 Midnight Moment - AmNews Curtain Raiser

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Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Times Square Arts and CIRCA Present Lifeworld by Olafur Eliasson for November 2024 Midnight Moment



Olafur Eliasson, Lifeworld, 2024, Times Square. Commissioned by CIRCA. Visualization: Studio Olafur Eliasson. © 2024 Olafur Eliasson


Times Square Arts, the public platform for contemporary performance and visual arts, is pleased to announce November’s Midnight Moment Lifeworld by Olafur Eliasson – a landmark series of five site-specific original works commissioned by CIRCA, presented in partnership with WeTransfer. 

Times Square Arts’ Midnight Moment program is the world’s largest, longest-running digital art exhibition, synchronized on over 92 electronic billboards throughout Times Square nightly from 11:57pm to midnight. Eliasson’s work will be on view in Times Square from November 1st to November 30thLifeworld is also appearing every evening at 8:24pm local time for three months (October 1—December 31, 2024) on the CIRCA global platform across Piccadilly Lights in London, K-Pop Square in Seoul, Limes Kurfürstendamm in Berlin, and globally online 24/7 on WeTransfer.com

In a blur of abstract shapes and dancing colors, Lifeworld interacts with the surrounding urban environment in Times Square. The floating carousel of lightforms mimics the exterior cityscape filled with electronic billboards, complementing the essence of Times Square. To make the artwork, the artist filmed Times Square and its screens from a number of perspectives; then created a blur that is temporal and spatial, to soften and slow down the environment. The resulting work shows Times Square in a completely new way, sparking the imagination of onlookers.  

“By abstracting the energy of Times Square itself, Eliasson's Lifeworld offers a rare moment of meditation – a poetic gesture on a monumental scale that holds the potential to ground us in a place designed to perpetually economize our attention and in a political climate that offers little psychic reprieve,” says Jean Cooney, the Director of Times Square Arts. “We’re excited to present this incredibly timely and distinct Midnight Moment and join this global collaboration.” 

To commemorate this special edition of Midnight Moment, CIRCA will release a series of four limited-edition prints by Eliasson available from October 1st until December 31st, 2024, the duration of his international presentation. The hand-signed prints replicate Eliasson’s abstract color and light investigation from his billboard display Lifeworld.   

Lifeworld explores how soft abstraction – images that are intentionally undefined and open to our personal interpretations – can reveal our place in the world in 2024. Times Square is an enormously impressive spectacle, lined with advertising screens that usually display crisp, sensational imagery,” Olafur Eliasson states. “It's a thrill; but the environment also determines my actions – driving me mostly to spend or to consume. Lifeworld shows the immediate site anew and its hazy qualities may prompt questions. If you are suddenly confronted with the reality of having a choice, you might ask what cities, lives, and environments do we want to inhabit? And how do I want to take part in them?” 

This Midnight Moment series marks the first work from Eliasson under his recently-announced guest curatorship of WeTransfer, who have partnered with CIRCA as an exclusive Digital Screen Partner. The commission will also take shape as a unique digital experience on WeTransfer's online public platform, where viewers from around the world can engage with the artwork 24/7. 

On Friday, November 1st, Pioneer Works, in collaboration with WeTransfer and CIRCA, will host a free conversation between Olafur Eliasson and MIT professor Gloria Sutton from 7-10pm at the Pioneer Works space in Brooklyn. 

Lifeworld by Olafur Eliasson follows the first collaboration between Midnight Moment and CIRCA in May 2021, which saw David Hockney’s Remember you cannot look at the sun or death for very long presented across 92 screens in Times Square as part of the very first global display by CIRCA to appear in multiple cities around the world.


The works of Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson (b. 1967) explore the relevance of art in the world at large. Since 1997, his wide-ranging solo shows – featuring installations, paintings, sculptures, photography, and film – have appeared in major museums around the globe. Eliasson is internationally renowned for his public installations that challenge the way we perceive and co-create our environments. 


WeTransfer is the simplest way to share ideas, collaborate with teams, and earn money, all in one platform. By offering fast, easy, and sustainable tools, we help tens of millions of creators, entrepreneurs, and businesses globally to make an impact through creativity. WeTransfer is a long-time champion of using business as a force for good and a certified B Corporation™.

WeTransfer’s Academy Award-winning arts platform WePresent acts as the company’s cultural torchbearer to a monthly audience of 3 million in 190 countries. Collaborating with emerging young talent to renowned artists such as Marina Abramovic, Riz Ahmed, FKA twigs, and Solange Knowles, WePresent showcases the best in art, photography, film, music, literature, and more, championing diversity in everything it does. The platform’s commissions range from editorial features to films, photography series, events, installations, and social media activations, with an aim to offer a fresh take on the magic and mystery of creative ideas.


CIRCA is redefining the intersection of art, technology, and public engagement. By transforming iconic digital screens, such as London’s Piccadilly Lights, into platforms for contemporary ideas, we enable artists to reflect on the world "circa now" and connect with a diverse, worldwide audience. CIRCA commissions and presents thought-provoking works every evening at 20:24, 365 days a year, challenging conventional roles of art and fostering cultural dialogue. Our #CIRCAECONOMY model supports the creative ecosystem through accessible art sales, funding public initiatives, and empowering artists globally. CIRCA is committed to pushing beyond conventional boundaries, creating an evolving platform for cultural exchange and artistic freedom.

Times Square Arts, the public art program of the Times Square Alliance, collaborates with contemporary artists and cultural institutions to experiment and engage with one of the world's most iconic urban places. Through the Square's electronic billboards, public plazas, vacant areas, and popular venues, and the Alliance's own online landscape, Times Square Arts invites leading contemporary creators, such as Charles Gaines, Joan Jonas, Jeffrey Gibson, Pamela Council, Mel Chin and Kehinde Wiley, to help the public see Times Square in new ways. Times Square has always been a cultural district and place of risk, innovation, and creativity, and the arts program ensures these qualities remain central to the district's unique identity.

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