By Pamela Grossman
Fashion embraced experimental video, Central Park was celebrated, and celebrities smiled for the cameras on the evening of September 24, to mark the expansion and reopening of Columbus Circle’s Hugo Boss flagship store.
In honor of the occasion, Boss partnered with the Art Production Fund to present “Anthropocene,” an abstract video installation from artist Marco Brambilla (born in Milan, now living in New York) based on images of Central Park. The project, which took several months to complete, debuted on the night of the store opening and will continue to be shown from 7-10 PM through September 30th. It is projected on three large suspended screens (6000 square feet total) in the atrium of the Time Warner Center and is visible from inside and outside the building. All who capture it in photos or video are encouraged to share their images via the #HBNYC hashtag, helping to make the installation a community—and global—event. The production team used laser technology to capture the park images and combined them with black-and-white night-vision photography of the city around the park (including the Columbus Circle area just outside the Time Warner building), creating a bright and rapidly changing piece with a meditative, almost hallucinogenic beauty.
On opening night, invited guests and passersby also got to hear live accompaniment from Julliard School musicians; they played a modern-classical piece from the suite “The Carnival of the Animals,” by Camille Saint-Saens, which was chosen by Brambilla.
Through September 30th, 10% of the proceeds from the Boss store will go to the Central Park Conservancy. A representative from the Conservancy lauded the park-based project and the many decades of art that the park, itself a great work of art, has inspired.
Celebrities on hand for the event included Woody Allen, Joel Schumacher, Josh Duhamel, Liam Hemsworth, visual/performance artist Marina Abromovic, and hotelier Andre Balazs.
GUEST GALLERY
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