Doug Aitken Sleepwalkers

In January and February of 2007, the Los Angeles-based video artist Doug Aitken projected a new work, commissioned by The Museum of Modern Art and the New York arts institution Creative Time, onto seven facades on and around MoMA's fabled West Fifty-third Street building. New Day Now was both inspired by, and offered in opposition to, the densely-built midtown environment; it integrated itself onto the surfaces on which it was projected, and it challenged viewers' perceptions of architecture and public space. The piece, which follows the trajectories of five characters as they work their way through nocturnal New York, explores Aitken's key recurring themes: broken and recombined narratives, the rhythm and flow of information and images, and the relationship of individuals to their environment. The viewer, as a pedestrian, a participant and a vital component of New York's energetic system, becomes part of the work, and of the interactive personal landscape that Aitken creates in and among the hard-edged concrete and glass language of Manhattan's architecture. In addition to documentation of New Day Now, this publication contains an overview of the artist's work to date, with special emphasis on works since 2001. New Day Now is the first artwork ever to be projected onto the exterior of The Museum.Aitken, Doug is the author of 'Doug Aitken Sleepwalkers', published 2007 under ISBN 9780870700453 and ISBN 0870700456.