Max Neuhaus, Times Square
Triangular pedestrian island located at Broadway between 45th and 46th Streets, New York
Max Neuhaus, Times Square, 1977. © The Estate of Max Neuhaus. Photograph by Gwenn Thomas
North end of the triangular pedestrian island located at Broadway between 45th and 46th Streets in New York
Overview
Max Neuhaus’s Times Square is a rich harmonic sound texture emerging from the north end of the triangular pedestrian island located at Broadway between 45th and 46th Streets in New York City.
Originally installed at this site from 1977 to 1992, the Times Square Street Business Improvement District (BID), and Christine Burgin collaborated with MTA Arts for Transit and Dia to reinstate the project in May of 2002.
Visitors and residents in Times Square may experience the artwork 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
A pioneer in the field of contemporary art and music, Max Neuhaus is credited with being the first artist to use sound as a medium for site-specific installations. His sound installations allow listeners to approach sound as art, in their own time.
Neuhaus’s Time Square (1977) sits beneath a triangular pedestrian plaza on Broadway between 45th and 46th Streets in New York. A pedestrian walking through this heavily trafficked area can hear, emanating from below a grate in the street, a deep and slightly pulsating droning that changes in pitch, timbre, and tone with shifts in bodily position. Originally installed at this site from 1977 to 1992, the Times Square Street Business Improvement District (BID), and Christine Burgin collaborated with MTA Arts for Transit and Dia Art Foundation to reinstate the project in May of 2002.
Dia is pleased to share this film highlighting Times Square and the work of Max Neuhaus in celebration of our 50th anniversary.
Support provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies
Video: SandenWolff
Interviews: Noah Therrien and Jonathan Sanden
Story editing: Rachel Wolff
Filming: Jonathan Sanden and Noah Therrien
Video editing: Stephen Parnigoni
Dia Art Foundation staff
Producers: Katherine Ellis and Dan Wolfe
Rights and reproduction: Jenn Kane
Communications director: Hannah Gompertz
Copy editor: Karen Rasaby
Proofreader: Svetlana Kitto
Special thanks to Silvia Cecere Neuhaus, Claudia Scotto Pagliara, and Max Neuhaus Estate
Additional thanks to Sandra Bloodworth, Cheryl Hageman, and MTA Arts & Design
© 2024 Dia Art Foundation
All works and images © 2024 Max Neuhaus Estate, unless otherwise noted
Artist
Max Neuhaus
Max Neuhaus was born in Beaumont, Texas, in 1939. He died in Maratea, Italy, in 2009.
Books
Max Neuhaus
This book offers an in-depth look at two Max Neuhaus works in Dia's collection, Times Square and Time Piece Beacon.