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Hallway of mirrors installation now on display at Times Square

Time for reflection

Hallway of mirrors installation now on display at Times Square

Can you see yourself at Times Square this month? Running through November 21, visitors to Times Square in Manhattan will find The Beginning of the End. The reflective intervention comes from the Times Square Arts, Cuban Artists Fund, and Cuban artist Rachel Valdés Camejo and asks audiences to think about the relationship between an object and its surrounding space—Broadway Plaza between 46th and 47th Streets.

Camejo’s first work in the U.S., The Beginning of the End sees the bright lights and razzmatazz of Times Square amplified through a corridor of mirrored surfaces. Visitors can walk through and glance down to see the sky at their feet along with the vibrant streetscape around them. Immersed within the new perspective of their surroundings, the audience is prompted to contemplate the way they view the vicinity. The Beginning of the End also works as a successful installation at night too. Despite not being able to walk on the sky, Camejo’s installation encapsulates and reverberates the visual chaos of Times Square has to offer.

Speaking in a press release, Camejo gave her thoughts on the installation:

For me it is wonderful to have this opportunity to present my work in a public space such as Times Square. It is certainly a place totally different from the environments where I have shown my installations before. My pieces always work according to the environment that concern them and in this case will be very different. I build objects to create dialogues between human beings, the object and space. So far the other environments in which I worked are quieter places, even places that become inhospitable, so to have my work this time in a place where so many people pass, and in a city like New York, it gives a whole other visual and conceptual possibility to my work.

“This work pulls in the sky to draw it underneath your feet, wrapping Times Square completely around your body,” said Times Square Arts Director, Sherry Dobbin. “The natural skyscape, the electronic billboards and the office buildings combine in a human kaleidoscope, in which each twist of your body brings about new perspectives.”

Meanwhile, Tim Tompkins, President of the Times Square Alliance, said, “Times Square has always been a reflection of America and ourselves. Ms. Camejo’s work allows the marvelous mix of people in Times Square to intersect in ever-new ways.”

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