Artist and designer Sebastian Errazuriz experiments with the contagious phenomenon of yawning in A Pause in the City That Never Sleeps. The video consists of a continuous yawn on loop, which will be shown on Times Square’s electronic billboards from 11:57 pm to midnight each night in January. This project is a part of Midnight Moment, a monthly presentation by The Times Square Advertising Coalition (TSAC) and Times Square Arts. The January presentation is in partnership with Performance Space 122’s COIL 2015 Festival. On Saturday, January 17, the final night of their festival, there will be a special gathering with the artist at 11:45pm on Duffy Square, inspiring a massive yawn-in.
The yawning character appears on multiple screens as a bored, omnipresent head looking down at the passing people from between product billboards and advertisements. As yawns are contagious, the masses of people looking up at the screens will inadvertently feel inclined to stop and yawn.
As the yawning masses continue to their different destinations across the city, they will now unconsciously carry with them their contagious message, spreading a scarce and valuable moment of pause throughout the city.
Sebastian Errazuriz, artist, said “It’s a little scary as an artist to present a project that is this simple. Nevertheless, I intuitively trust that at times it is the importance of leaving a pause or a blank space that allows us to highlight and be aware of everything else that is in that space. At times the simplest projects are the hardest to do. You cannot hide behind a simple project, the truth is exposed, distilled and present.”
all images © KA-MANK, SEBASTIAN ERRAZURIZ STUDIO