Lights, Camera, Action on a Museum Wall
'Sleepwalkers' uses the exterior walls of the Museum of Modern Art to juxtapose the stories of different people who live in different parts of New York. Fred Charles/Courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art hide caption
'Sleepwalkers' uses the exterior walls of the Museum of Modern Art to juxtapose the stories of different people who live in different parts of New York.
Fred Charles/Courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art
One of the five stories in 'Sleepwalkers' is projected onto the museum above 53rd Street in New York. Fred Charles/Courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art hide caption
This week, the city that never sleeps is giving Manhattanites a new reason to stay out in the dark. Doug Aitken's Sleepwalkers is a new film installation at the Museum of Modern Art, playing through February 12. The installation (which can be previewed here) projects eight large moving images on MOMA's outdoor walls each night. Interweaving narratives follow five characters — a bicycle messenger, an office worker, a postal worker, an electrician and a businessman — as they awaken and make their way to work.
The actors are far from anonymous. Donald Sutherland and Tilda Swinton are among the stars. But you won't hear a peep from them. The movies are silent. City noise serves a natural soundtrack.