The 59th Minute: Thomas Struth

February 4 - May 18, 2003
Times Square Astrovision
Photo © 2003 Thomas Struth

In 2003 Creative Time and Panasonic proudly presented Thomas Struth on The 59th Minute: Video Art on the Times Square Astrovision, which aired in conjunction with the artist's first major retrospective, Thomas Struth at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In their American debut, Video Portraits showcased carefully selected subjects - an art dealer, an architect, a student, and Struth's godson - gazing calmly at the camera, and, by extension, at us. Struth’s subjects sit before the camera for one hour, steady and unmoving except for the occasional blink of an eye. After their initial self-consciousness passes, Struth’s subjects sink into a fascinating meditative state. The hour before the camera reveals barely perceptible changes in mood and emotion evidenced through shifting eyes or even a stifled yawn. As a viewer, one can’t help but wonder what elicits the forthcoming openness in Struth's subjects, be it the subject's sustained sitting before the camera at close range or a comparable unmasked quality in the artist himself, either way, trust between the subject and photographer is evident and from that, a truth emerges.

Struth's restrained use of the medium brilliantly combined the stasis of painting with photography's embrace of the fleeting. For his Times Square premiere, the artist appropriately selected the final, 59th minute of each Video Portrait to calmly hover over the endless movement of this mediapolis. By subtly balancing distance and intimacy with the camera’s perspective, the videos reduced the entire vocabulary of art to its simplest premise - to look, to see, and self-reflection- inviting the audience's discernment, receptivity, and calm consideration.

For three years, The 59th Minute has offered the Times Square public an opportunity to encounter video art within the world's most dazzling media capital. This selection of Thomas Struth’s Video Portraits (1996 - 2003) will mark the twelfth artist in the series and the organization’s first collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum of Art.