The Verdict
Corporations are willing to pay millions to have their brands floating in the electric air of Times Square. Now artists and the general public are addressing the world, too.

Tip Sheet One of New York's Best Nominated for best public art for being one of the funniest, least self-involved public art works going. Need Some More Pipilotti? Check out http://www.squaretimes.net/. Also Nominated for Best Public Art Walter De Maria Room at Dia Center, Phun Phactory, Socrates Sculpture Park, 34th Street and Herald Square Subway Sound Art

The Project
Tibor Kalman's slogans could be seen in Times Square this spring and, most recently, "Open My Glade," a project by Swiss video artist Pipilotti Rist, has run on the great Panasonic Video Screen at the South Corner of Times Square. It ran every quarter past the hour for close to seven weeks.

Background
Funded by the Public Art Fund, Rist's hilarious improvisations take the fish-tank view of Times Square. She wants to make you laugh and cry, but most of all, show you how silly you really are.

Inside Scoop
Rist exploded on the art scene in the mid-'90s with her music-promo like videos of shopping in the supermarket and other spoofs of modern life. Here, she brings it all home to Americans. —Saul Anton