Inside Out, Times Square, 2013
From April 22 to May 10, 2013, for INSIDE OUT NEW YORK CITY, JR and his team invite New Yorkers and visitors to take self-portraits in a photo booth truck stationed in Times Square, the site of the world’s first ever photo booth almost 100 years ago. The posters are pasted on Duffy Square in Times Square, or in the home community of the portrait’s subject.
Almost 6,000 participants covered the floor with their faces. A gigantic billboard at the corner of 47th Street and 7th Avenue was also taken over by Inside Out portraits, and a very large eye was installed on top of it.
The project activates Times Square as a creative hub—engaging the boroughs of New York as the photo booth truck makes early visits to the Bronx, Staten Island, Queens, and Brooklyn. The initial portraits featured community members from New York City neighborhoods affected by Hurricane Sandy—the Staten Island waterfront, the Rockaways, Red Hook, and Coney Island.
Moreover, every night in May 2013, from 11.57pm to midnight, for the Midnight Moment, a video art project on Inside Out was presented on Times Square, on most of the screens usually reserved for advertising.