Times Square & Piccadilly Lights Headline w/ @Gorillaz

Andrew Neale

Two of the World’s most famous Out of Home landmarks in Times Square and Piccadilly Lights, were transformed into live stages for a ground-breaking performance this past weekend.

Both locations became first-of-a-kind immersive stages for performances by the award-winning virtual band Gorillaz who performed in real life as Murdoc, 2D, Noodle and Russel performed their new track Skinny Ape.

Ahead of the performance, Murdoc ‘said’ “To all our followers, get ready for the biggest Times Square takeover since that other gorilla smashed the place up. Bigger in fact cos there’s four of us. Thanks to the techies at Google, we’ve created the music video event of the century, so don your pink robes and come see Gorillaz like you’ve never seen us before. The future is nigh!”

Directed by artist and Gorillaz co-creator Jamie Hewlett and the Emmy nominated director Fx Goby, the ‘Skinny Ape’ performances are created by Nexus Studios and utilize Google’s ARCore Geospatial API, using AR to transform public spaces with cultural experiences.

Piccadilly Circus. Credit: Press

The OOH showcases are being managed by OUTFRONT Media (NYSE:OUT) and Ocean Outdoor which operates the Piccadilly Lights on behalf of Landsec.

ARCore is Google’s AR developer platform that works across billions of devices, providing developers with simple yet powerful tools to build immersive experiences that seamlessly blend the digital and physical worlds.

Launched in May 2022, ARCore’s Geospatial API opens up nearly 15 years of our understanding of the world through Google Maps and enables immersive experiences to be deployed at world scale in more than 100 countries. Content creators can turn cities into live canvases.


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