How The Times Square Showcase Sold Out Three Times: Behind The Scenes

How The Times Square Showcase Sold Out Three Times: Behind The Scenes

When we first said "your art on a screen in Times Square," the reaction was split between "that's incredible" and "that can't be real." Three sold out showcases later, it is very real, and this is how it happened.

The idea

Exhibitions have always meant walls. Walls mean venues, shipping, installation, travel and cost, and they mean the only people who see the work are the people who walk into the room.

Times Square is the opposite of a room. Over 300,000 people pass through it every day. It is the most watched intersection on the planet. So Streeters Gallery built a showcase around it: 40 artists per showcase, each with a spot on a big screen in the middle of Manhattan, no shipping, no travel, from a single high resolution file.

How it works

Artists pick a spot on the booking page, confirm it, and upload their artwork. When all 40 spots are filled, the showcase date is locked and the display goes live. Artists receive confirmation and content they can use everywhere: their portfolio, their CV, their social media.

No application panel. No CV. No experience needed. All mediums, from painting photographed well to native digital work. Artists have booked from London, Tokyo, Athens, Barcelona, Lagos and dozens of other cities. Most of them have never been to New York.

The first sellout

We opened the first date expecting it to take a few weeks to fill. It went in days. The demand was not for a gallery credit in the usual sense; it was for a sentence. "My work was displayed in Times Square." Artists understood instantly what that line does on a CV, in a bio, in a conversation.

The second and third

The August 17 showcase sold out. The August 30 showcase sold out. Each time, the artists who missed a date asked for the next, and each time the next filled faster. September 10 followed the same pattern. The showcase has now sold out every date released, and new dates open as soon as the previous one locks.

Why it works

It is accessible. A file and a spot. No logistics, no gatekeeping, a price that an emerging artist can say yes to without agonising.

It is proof. The credit is verifiable, the content is shareable, and a photo of your work on a Times Square screen stops a feed dead.

It compounds. Artists pair it with a physical show. Streeters New York runs November 20 to 23 at 101 Reade St, Tribeca. Tribeca on the wall and Times Square on the screen in the same month is a New York story most artists never get to tell.

It is backed. Streeters is the sister gallery of The Holy Art, which has exhibited over 25,000 artists across nine cities. Artists booking a Times Square spot are booking into a network with six years of documented exhibitions, not a stunt.

What artists do with it

Post it, and watch the engagement. Add it to the CV. Use it in applications for residencies, grants and future shows. Send the enquiries it generates to a studio on Mostra, the zero commission marketplace built by The Holy Art, where the collector who saw the screen can buy the work.

What came next

The Times Square model proved that the screen is a wall. So Streeters built the London version: billboard showcases in Kings Cross and Notting Hill where, unlike the shared Times Square screen, one artist takes the entire billboard for 30 seconds at a time, around 21 plays a day from 6am to midnight, never split or shared.

Times Square for the headline. London billboards for the takeover. Both from a file.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get my art displayed in Times Square? Book a spot on the Streeters Gallery Times Square showcase, upload your artwork, and the showcase goes live when all 40 spots fill.

Has the Times Square showcase really sold out? Yes. Every date released so far, including August 17, August 30 and September 10, 2026.

Do I need to be in New York? No. Everything is done online from anywhere in the world.

Is it a real screen in Times Square? Yes. Artists receive confirmation and content of their work on display.

Can I combine it with a physical show? Yes. Many artists pair Times Square with the Streeters New York show in Tribeca on November 20 to 23.

Get the next date

Times Square showcase: 40 spots, a file, Manhattan.

London billboards: the whole screen, Kings Cross and Notting Hill.

Streeters Gallery: London, New York, Berlin.

Three sellouts in. The fourth is open.