NEW YORK CITY.- Dia Art Foundation announced the reactivation of Times Square, a sound artwork by American artist Max Neuhaus. Located on the triangular pedestrian island at Broadway between 45th and 46th Streets in New York City, Times Square was originally installed at this site from 1977 to 1992. Over the past year, a group made up of some of the largest businesses and builders in the Times Square area, the Times Square Street Business Improvement District (BID), and Christine Burgin collaborated with MTA Arts for Transit and Dia to reinstate the project. Visitors, local residents, and those who work in Times Square may experience the artwork 24 hours a day, seven days a week.



Max Neuhaus’s Times Square is an invisible, unmarked block of sound at the north end of the pedestrian island. A rich harmonic sound texture emerges from a large underground vault covered by a grating.



Commenting on artwork, Neuhaus has said, “For those who find and accept the work’s anomaly, the island becomes a different place, separate, but including its surroundings. People, having no way of knowing that it has been deliberately made, usually claim the work as a place of their own discovering.”



Michael Govan, Director, Dia, said, “Although invisible and intentionally anonymous, the subtle but palpable sonic resonance of Neuhaus’s invention made it a landmark of public art. To restore it is a gift not only to the Times Square neighborhood and the city of New York, but also to art history.”



Tim Tompkins, President, Times Square BID, said, “We are very excited to have this distinctive artwork brought back to renewed life in Times Square. It is great not only because it was designed specifically for Times Square, but also because its unconventional nature fits with the energy, diversity and edge of Times Square. We hope many of the 30 million people who visit the area each year, as well as those who live and work there, will have the opportunity to experience it for themselves.”



Max Neuhaus

Max Neuhaus has worked in the fields of contemporary art and music for more than 40 years. He is credited with being the first to extend sound as a primary medium into the field of contemporary art. His work has been exhibited internationally in museums and galleries, including exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris; and the Kunsthalle, Bern. It has also been included in Documenta VI (1977) and IX (1992), Kassel, and the Venice Biennale (1999). Several of Neuhaus’s sound works are permanently installed in public venues in Europe. Times Square is Neuhaus’s only public installation currently active in the United States.