Charge
Audio Guide
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Broadway between 41st and 49th Streets
New York, NY
Start:
Jul 1, 2025
End:
Jul 31, 2025
Nightly, 11:57pm – 12am
View Public Programming
Broadway between 41st and 49th Streets
New York, NY
Start:
Jul 1, 2025
End:
Jul 31, 2025
Nightly, 11:57pm – 12am
View Public Programming
Evoking sunsets, the alchemy of astrophysics, and planetary imagery, artist Rosa Barba’s Charge is a cinematic exploration of color and light. The rhythmic, pulsating assemblage is activated by natural landscapes, radio waves, stellar spheres, scientific apparatuses, and celluloid itself.
Inspiration for the work began with the artist’s immersive research in a space observatory in Nançay, central France, where scientists use radio waves to build a picture of the universe. As part of her broader practice, Barba’s work reflects on human impact on the environment, drawing inspiration from natural elements. For Barba, cinema “allows time and space to vibrate, collapse, overlap, and extend.” In a bustling place like Times Square, moments to pause and appreciate the natural beauty of the world are rare. Charge offers a brief—but crucial—reprieve from the urban chaos.
Presented with The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Charge is a special edit of Barba's film of the same title, co-commissioned by MoMA and The Vega Foundation in Toronto. Iterations of Charge will also be on view this summer at MoMA in Barba’s solo exhibition The Ocean of One’s Pause, on view until July 6, and at Moynihan Train Hall.
Evoking sunsets, the alchemy of astrophysics, and planetary imagery, artist Rosa Barba’s Charge is a cinematic exploration of color and light. The rhythmic, pulsating assemblage is activated by natural landscapes, radio waves, stellar spheres, scientific apparatuses, and celluloid itself.
Inspiration for the work began with the artist’s immersive research in a space observatory in Nançay, central France, where scientists use radio waves to build a picture of the universe. As part of her broader practice, Barba’s work reflects on human impact on the environment, drawing inspiration from natural elements. For Barba, cinema “allows time and space to vibrate, collapse, overlap, and extend.” In a bustling place like Times Square, moments to pause and appreciate the natural beauty of the world are rare. Charge offers a brief—but crucial—reprieve from the urban chaos.
Presented with The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Charge is a special edit of Barba's film of the same title, co-commissioned by MoMA and The Vega Foundation in Toronto. Iterations of Charge will also be on view this summer at MoMA in Barba’s solo exhibition The Ocean of One’s Pause, on view until July 6, and at Moynihan Train Hall.
Founded in 1929 by three progressive women under an educational charter, The Museum of Modern Art connects people from around the world to the art of our time. MoMA aspires to be a catalyst for experimentation, learning, and creativity, a gathering place for all, and a home for artists and their ideas. MoMA realizes its mission by establishing, caring for, and presenting a dynamic collection of the highest order that reflects the vitality and complexity of modern and contemporary art; by welcoming millions of people every year to explore its exhibitions and participate in onsite and online programs; by sustaining a library, archives, and conservation laboratory that are recognized as international centers of research; and by supporting innovative scholarship and publications.
The Vega Foundation is committed to cultivating new ideas and connections through encounters with artists’ film and video. They provide critical support for artists through meaningful investments in the production of ambitious new work and the stewardship of a growing collection. Vega’s curatorial program is dedicated to exhibiting these exceptional works through collaborations with Canadian and international institutions. By expanding access, they seek to grow appreciation for moving image practices and facilitate vibrant conversations that reflect the pressing issues of our time.
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, Levi's, LG, Line Friends, McDonald's, Microsoft, Midtown Financial, Morgan Stanley, New Tradition, Outfront, Paramount, Prudential, Sensory Interactive, Sephora, Sherwood Equities, Show + Tell, Silvercast, Swatch, TSX, and T-Mobile.
Broadway between 41st and 49th Streets
New York, NY
Nightly, 11:57pm – 12am
Film still © Rosa Barba
Rosa Barba was born in Italy, and currently lives and works in Berlin. She studied at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne followed by a fellowship at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam; and has completed her PhD with the title On the Anarchic Organisation of Cinematic Spaces: Evoking Spaces beyond Cinema at the Malmö Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts, Lund University in 2018. Rosa Barba's work has been exhibited at prestigious institutions and biennials worldwide: MALI Museum, Lima, Tate Modern, London, MoMA, New York, Centre de Création contemporaine Olivier Debré, Tours, Cukrarna, Ljubljana, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Yokohama Triennial; Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art, Turku, Finland; CCA Kitakyushu; Armory Park Avenue, New York; Kunsthalle Bremen; Remai Modern, Saskatoon; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Palacio de Cristal, Madrid; Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan; Vienna Secession; Malmö Konsthall; CAPC musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt; Albertinum, Dresden and at the MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA. Barba participated in the 7th Beaufort Triennial, Belgium; 32nd São Paulo Biennial; 53rd and 56th Biennale di Venezia; 8th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art; 19th Biennale of Sydney; Performa, New York; International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia and Liverpool Biennale. In 2021, Rosa Barba inaugurated a permanent Open-Air Cinema sculpture in the United Nations Buffer Zone in Deryneia, Cyprus and Pillage of the Sea, and a permanent sculpture in the sea in Ostende, during the Beaufort Biennial. The artist has been awarded various international prizes, and her work is in the permanent collections of dozens of institutions worldwide.
Learn More About
Rosa Barba
Rosa Barba was born in Italy, and currently lives and works in Berlin. She studied at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne followed by a fellowship at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam; and has completed her PhD with the title On the Anarchic Organisation of Cinematic Spaces: Evoking Spaces beyond Cinema at the Malmö Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts, Lund University in 2018. Rosa Barba's work has been exhibited at prestigious institutions and biennials worldwide: MALI Museum, Lima, Tate Modern, London, MoMA, New York, Centre de Création contemporaine Olivier Debré, Tours, Cukrarna, Ljubljana, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Yokohama Triennial; Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art, Turku, Finland; CCA Kitakyushu; Armory Park Avenue, New York; Kunsthalle Bremen; Remai Modern, Saskatoon; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Palacio de Cristal, Madrid; Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan; Vienna Secession; Malmö Konsthall; CAPC musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt; Albertinum, Dresden and at the MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA. Barba participated in the 7th Beaufort Triennial, Belgium; 32nd São Paulo Biennial; 53rd and 56th Biennale di Venezia; 8th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art; 19th Biennale of Sydney; Performa, New York; International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia and Liverpool Biennale. In 2021, Rosa Barba inaugurated a permanent Open-Air Cinema sculpture in the United Nations Buffer Zone in Deryneia, Cyprus and Pillage of the Sea, and a permanent sculpture in the sea in Ostende, during the Beaufort Biennial. The artist has been awarded various international prizes, and her work is in the permanent collections of dozens of institutions worldwide.
Learn More About
Rosa Barba
Rosa Barba was born in Italy, and currently lives and works in Berlin. She studied at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne followed by a fellowship at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam; and has completed her PhD with the title On the Anarchic Organisation of Cinematic Spaces: Evoking Spaces beyond Cinema at the Malmö Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts, Lund University in 2018. Rosa Barba's work has been exhibited at prestigious institutions and biennials worldwide: MALI Museum, Lima, Tate Modern, London, MoMA, New York, Centre de Création contemporaine Olivier Debré, Tours, Cukrarna, Ljubljana, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Yokohama Triennial; Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art, Turku, Finland; CCA Kitakyushu; Armory Park Avenue, New York; Kunsthalle Bremen; Remai Modern, Saskatoon; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Palacio de Cristal, Madrid; Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan; Vienna Secession; Malmö Konsthall; CAPC musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt; Albertinum, Dresden and at the MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA. Barba participated in the 7th Beaufort Triennial, Belgium; 32nd São Paulo Biennial; 53rd and 56th Biennale di Venezia; 8th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art; 19th Biennale of Sydney; Performa, New York; International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia and Liverpool Biennale. In 2021, Rosa Barba inaugurated a permanent Open-Air Cinema sculpture in the United Nations Buffer Zone in Deryneia, Cyprus and Pillage of the Sea, and a permanent sculpture in the sea in Ostende, during the Beaufort Biennial. The artist has been awarded various international prizes, and her work is in the permanent collections of dozens of institutions worldwide.
Learn More About
Rosa Barba
