ART: JR's Times Square People's Art Project

Starting April 22nd, Parisian artist and "photograffeur" JR installed his new project in the middle of Times Square, on the corner of 47th Street and 7th Avenue in NYC. Passers by can participate in JR's Inside Out project, by taking pictures in photo-booths that are then printed in large scale, a few minutes later. Buckets of wheat paste and brushes are provided to let participants post their images on the floor.

[caption id="attachment_65742" align="alignnone" width="650"] Inside Out, JR, in Johannesburg, South Africa[/caption]

The project aims to transform messages of personal identity into works of art. This global project has traveled to several places since 2011, including Johannesburg, South Africa, where the images of 30 children with HIV/AIDS have been posted to "remove the stigma of Aids they live under, and to portray them as the heroes they are." Other locations include Tokyo, Japan; Paris, France; and Ramallah, Palestine.

[caption id="attachment_65745" align="alignnone" width="650"] JR posting up for Instagram pics with a fan in Times Square[/caption]

The Times Square installation runs through May 10th, so any one strolling by the spot can take part in the project until then. In connection with the project, HBO films is documenting its development. Inside Out, The People's Art Project, directed by Alastair Siddons, will debut exclusively on HBO on Monday, May 20th at 9pm ET/PT. I hope to see my friend's faces included. This powerful project could always use a few more great mugs to help flash a light on important social issues, and you get to wheat paste NYC at your pace and not NYPDs.

You can find out mere about JR here.

You can find out more about the project here.

You can find out more about the film here.