Tomokazu Matsuyama’s April Midnight Moment: Morning Again

(NEW YORK, NY — March 17, 2026) — Times Square Arts, the largest public platform for contemporary performance and visual arts, is pleased to present Tomozaku Matsuyama’s Morning Again as April’s Midnight Moment, on view from April 1–30 on nearly 100 electronic billboards in Times Square. Screening nightly from 11:57pm to midnight, Morning Again pays homage to individual and collective lives that make up New York City.

Unfolding across vividly illustrated chapters, Morning Again is a visual narrative on the forces that shape New York City today. In the work, Japanese–born, New York–based artist Matsuyama traces four symbolic currents that move through the city: flows of hope, rhythm, self-expression, and transformation. Times Square, the city’s central pulse, becomes the stage.

Across the vast electronic canvas of Times Square’s billboards, histories overlap, diverse identities coexist without hierarchy, and the city’s inner rhythms are rendered in light and motion. Through the piece, viewers are invited to pause and feel the currents as they unfold: light rising into hope, vibrations carrying the city’s pulse, bursts of color and movement affirming presence and joy, and shifting silhouettes hinting at fluid identities. These currents converge, dissolve, and reassemble, forming a portrait of the shared energies that sustain and shape New York and the country. In a time of uncertainty and division, the work affirms diversity and independence, while imagining unity as a forward-moving force toward the future.

“Times Square remains the drum beat of New York City. It is the ultimate stage where pop culture, history, and the quintessential New York energy join together for its global audience. I am deeply honored to partner with Times Square Arts to bring a work of hope and collectivity to such an important destination. In Morning Again, I aim to explore the multilayered urban makeup of New York and create a space where diverse identities stand side-by-side without hierarchy. This work is an invitation to find a meditative rhythm within the city’s constant fast pace, prompting us to reflect on how we inhabit our complex, shared society together,” said Tomokazu Matsuyama.

“Each month, Midnight Moment transforms Times Square’s vast digital landscape into a shared canvas for collective reflection. With Morning Again, Tomokazu Matsuyama captures the layered energies that define New York City—its movement, plurality, and constant renewal—and invites millions of viewers to pause within the city’s brightest and busiest of crossroads. We are thrilled to present Matsuyama’s vibrant meditation on hope, connection, and the evolving fabric of the city,” said Anna Starling, Director of Times Square Arts and Vice President, Development & Partnerships at Times Square Alliance.

ABOUT TOMOKAZU MATSUYAMA
Tomokazu Matsuyama (b. 1976, Gifu, Japan) is a Brooklyn-based artist whose practice spans painting, sculpture, and installation, blending and reimagining visual languages across eras and culture—ancient and contemporary, figurative and abstract, Eastern and Western—to examine identity within today’s information-driven world. Recent solo exhibitions include Morning Sun at the Edward Hopper House Museum (Nyack, NY, USA, 2025), Liberation Back Home at the SCAD Museum of Art (Savannah, GA, USA, 2025), and FIRST LAST at Azabudai Hills Gallery (Tokyo, Japan, 2025). His works are held in prominent private and institutional collections globally, and most recently, his monumental installation You, One Me Erase entered the collection of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (Bentonville, AR, USA).

ABOUT TIMES SQUARE ARTS
Times Square Arts, the public art program of the Times Square Alliance, collaborates with contemporary artists and cultural institutions to experiment and engage with one of the world's most iconic urban places. Through the Square's electronic billboards, public plazas, vacant areas and popular venues, and the Alliance's own online landscape, Times Square Arts invites leading contemporary creators, such as Charles Gaines, Joan Jonas, Jeffrey Gibson, Pamela Council, Mel Chin and Kehinde Wiley, to help the public see Times Square in new ways. Times Square has always been a cultural district and place of risk, innovation and creativity, and the arts program ensures these qualities remain central to the district's unique identity.

Support for Midnight Moment is provided in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; and the Times Square Advertising Coalition.

Midnight Moment is made possible by the Times Square Advertising Coalition, ABC SuperSign, American Eagle, Big Outdoor, Branded Cities, Clear Channel, Coca-Cola, Diversified, Express, Heritage Outdoor Media, KEVANI, Levi's, LG, Line Friends, McDonald's, Microsoft, Midtown Financial, Morgan Stanley, New Tradition, Outfront, Paramount, Prudential, RXR, Sensory Interactive, Sephora, Sherwood Equities, Show + Tell, Silvercast, Swatch, TSX, and T-Mobile.

PRESS INQUIRIES
timessquarearts@culturalcounsel.com

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