Photo Credit: Roving Rube. Viewpoint: Rockefeller Plaza approaching 51st St.; 3/06/02 8:02 PM.

Notes (Roving Rube): This digital video art installation runs through March 23rd. It is shown 24 hours a day at Rockefeller Center: here on the sidewalk at nights, and inside the shopping arcade, on the wall in a dark room, during the day.

The video is of dozens of tiny computer-generated pedestrians going from here to there, or engaged in a variety of mundane and mysterious activities. They are shot from overhead, as seen in the Detail view, and when looking at the sidewalk version it does sometimes seem like you are looking at little people running round, even skating, at your feet. At times it's a little dizzying as the "camera" moves and the whole sidewalk seems to pull away from beneath your feet.

On balance the Rube prefers the inside version because it is three times as big and bright, the excellent "ambient noise" soundtrack can be fully enjoyed, and you can sit down while watching it go through its 13-minute loop once or twice. You do have to watch it a couple of times as there are too many pedestrians to watch at once, and many of them are up to something or other. It has much the same fascination as watching bees or ants, or as the artists point out, the skaters at Rockefeller Center.

The artists are Shelley Eskar and Paul Kaiser and their related website is here. But it is the kind of piece that words can't really add much meaning to.

It is also being shown and outside the Studio Museum in Harlem, 144 West 125th Street, and indoors (on the floor) at the Eyebeam Gallery on 540 West 21st Street, Chelsea.