NEW YORK-
This time, the art is going to be on the outside of the museum.
A new public art installation will turn the facades of the Museum of Modern Art into an outdoor movie theater of sorts, with the images large enough to be seen from the street, museum and city officials announced Tuesday.
Artist Doug Aitken is creating a series of five films centering on life in an urban environment. The movies, each about 15 to 20 minutes long, will be played on seven of the large walls that make up MoMA's midtown Manhattan structure.
"It's going to be unforgettable," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a news conference announcing the project.
The work will be up from Jan. 16 through Feb. 12, shown from dusk until 10 p.m. The movies will be projected onto four walls surrounding the museum's sculpture garden, which can be seen from West 54th Street, on a screen at MoMA's entrance on West 53rd Street and on two panels on the side of the building.
MoMA director Glenn Lowry said that the museum was looking into ways to keep the sculpture garden open after hours for the public and that the installation would be free of charge. He was hopeful that the million dollar project would garner interest, even though it will be held outside in the winter.
"I have a feeling people will come out and want to be part of it," Lowry said.
Bloomberg said city agencies would be working with the museum to make sure everything went seamlessly, from promotion and marketing to traffic and public access. He praised the project as a way to bring tourist dollars to the city during the traditionally slow post-holiday months.
"Public art projects like this really do help define the best in urban living," he said.
The city's tourism marketing organization, NYC & Company, will promote the project, Aitken's first public art work in New York, at its international locations in hopes of gaining global interest, president Cristyne Nicholas said.
Aitken said he had just started work on the five films, which are being shot in New York, and hoped to have them completed by the end of September.
This isn't the first time the city has had an outdoor public project in the cold-weather months. In February 2005, artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude constructed more than 7,500 metal gates draped with orange fabric in Central Park. Officials estimated that the project, called "The Gates," brought in about 4 million visitors and generated $254 million.
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