David Hockney at Times Square

A new digital artwork by David Hockney, one of the world’s most celebrated living artists, will be unveiled across a network of the world’s most iconic outdoor video screens in May, uniting Times Square, New York; Piccadilly Lights London; Yunika Vision, Tokyo; and Coex K-POP Square LED screen, Seoul; and Pendry West Hollywood, Los Angeles. The artwork is also available to view online via the (opens in a new window) CIRCA.ART website every evening, at 20:21 BST.

Hockney’s Remember you cannot look at the sun or death for very long brings a digital sunrise to these worldwide locations, offering a powerful symbol of hope and collaboration. As it reaches the screens of Times Square at three minutes to midnight, it transforms: the sun slowly crests a dark horizon, bringing color to the sky and landscape even as it sends shadows across the ground, and then turning brighter and brighter as the sun’s rays spread dramatically across the screen. Created during quarantine on the artist’s iPad in Normandy, France, Remember you cannot look at the sun or death for very long offers the opportunity for a spontaneous encounter with Hockney’s meditation on the arrival of spring.

The global collaboration was commissioned and curated by the London-based CIRCA, an innovative new platform showcasing digital art in the public space, and coincides with the release of Hockney’s new book Spring Cannot Be Cancelled and his Royal Academy exhibition The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020, opening May 23, 2021.

(opens in a new window) Learn more at CIRCA's website.
(opens in a new window) Learn more at Times Square Arts' website.