Marco Brambilla Debuts a Times Square Utopia

On June 18, film artist Marco Brambilla took over more than 95 of Times Square’s LED billboards with 'Approximations of Utopia'. The three minute short film brought the Queens Museum’s 1964 World’s Fair retrospective to Manhattan by immersing viewers in an imaginary, post-conflict and post-scarcity version of the expo. Before the viewing, which took over the plaza for three minutes before midnight, art world attendees toasted the Italian-Canadian artist with a celebratory cocktail party at the Times Square Edition. Notables in attendance included Naomi Watts, Billy Crudup, Bob Colacello, Gina Gershon, Waris Ahluwalia, Andrew Kreps, Sean MacPherson, Steven Sacks, and more. Photos by Mike Vitelli/BFA.