Between the enormous LED screens, costumed characters, and throngs of tourists, not much about Times Square screams “romance”—except for “Heart Squared,” that is. The new 800-pound heart installation by Brooklyn-based firms MODU and Eric Forman Studio serves as a temporary love letter to the city that never sleeps.
The twelfth winner of the annual Times Square Valentine Heart Design Competition (organized by Times Square Arts and Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum) comprises 125 mirrors, arranged in a heart shape, set within a painted steel framework. The designers intended for the sculpture to resemble the anatomic mass of a heart. As spectators survey the installation, the mirrors periodically align to reveal a cohesive collage of the surrounding cityscape, framed by reflections of sky.
“Heart Squared represents the collective heart of the city and as such, is an engaging civic statement about celebrating our differences and bringing people together in a fundamentally inclusive way,” said Phu Hoang and Rachely Rotem of MODU, in a statement.
“Heart Squared,” which is installed on 46th Street between Broadway and 7th Avenue in Manhattan, will be on display and open to the public through the end of February 2020.