6. Polar Rainbow in Times Square
Through June 30, Times Square Arts will present Polar Rainbow, a virtual sculpture created by artist Kristaps Ancāns in honor of Pride Month. Created to help support communities under duress by calling for empathy, awareness, and sympathy in its audience, Polar Rainbow celebrates the global LGBTQIA+ community and their ongoing fight for justice and equal civil rights.
Polar Rainbow was inspired by the discovery that rainbows do not exist in the North or South poles. The virtual sculpture envisions a rainbow stretching between the two poles along the 74W meridian line—which cuts right through Times Square along 7th Avenue. To view the sculpture, visitors to Times Square can utilize a specially curated app developed by Ancāns and Platvorm, an Estonian data visualization studio. Through the app, viewers can also capture photos with the rainbow and send personalized “digital postcards” with the hashtag #PolarRainbow. Following its display in New York City, Polar Rainbow will be displayed around the globe.
