spectrum is a times square monument to diversity, proposed by cosimo scotucci

italian artist and architect cosimo scotucci wants to take over times square’s famous billboards with a massive urban-land-art installation. the conceptual public artwork is called ‘spectrum, a monument for diversity’ and it’s envisioned to celebrate people’s differences and pave the way for a more inclusive society.

images courtesy of cosimo scotucci

the concept behind the spectrum installation comes from physics, and isaac newton’s discovery of the color spectrum in the 17th century. before this time, it was thought that white light was pure, colorless and indivisible. after experimenting with sunlight and prisms, newton proved that white light is in fact a range of beautiful colors. scotucci applies this analogy to people to celebrate their uniqueness, ‘every person is unique, every individual is a single shade in the full display of color that we call humanity.’

to realize the piece, the artist proposes to transform each screen and billboard in new york city’s times square into a single monochrome color display. the shades would change throughout the day to showcase all the possible tones of light. scotucci’s goal is to provoke thought while celebrating color and the unique facets that make us human. 

concept

project info:

name: spectrum, a monument for diversity

location: times square, new york city, the US

design: cosimo scotucci

year: 2021