At Midnight in Times Square, Ben Lebovitz Redefines Borders
MIKE O'DONNELL / EDITOR
WNW Member and Art Director Ben Lebovitz wants us to recognize the influence of borders, specifically the fact that international borders are divisions that demand social responsibility to consistently meet in the middle. Humanity and the environment often depend on these interactions. Fortunately, his latest project Borders has a pretty impressive spotlight for the entire month of September. In partnership with Advertising Week, Times Square Arts is presenting Ben's film Borders on Times Square’s electronic billboards from 11:57 p.m. to midnight every night in September. This project is a part of Midnight Moment, a monthly presentation by The Times Square Advertising Coalition (TSAC) and Times Square Arts.
Using Google Earth satellite technology — a familiar medium after his work on projects for the company — Ben depicts the world from above, displaying the international borders between countries like Nepal and China, the US and Mexico, Syria and Turkey, Israel and Jordan, and Kuwait and Iraq, along with the remains of the Berlin Wall and landscapes of Glacier National Park. As Ben puts it, “My hope for this work is that it might compel us to examine what our interpretation of a border is and how we might begin to understand ways in which we can develop future systems for sharing resources between countries. With satellite imagery, we can at a breadth see how our shared land is utilized. (Especially as it pertains to harnessing and the consumption of energy, transportation, and sustainable food and water solutions).”
Photos courtesy of Ka-Man Tse.