DESIRE SQUARED

Little-known senator Barack Obama wowed America with his 2004 speech observing that the awesome God worshipped in Republican red states was also revered in Democratic blue ones. Unfortunately, during his presidency, that purple deity has morphed into the Lord of Virulent Partisanship. Enter Brian Dailey, whose past work includes portraits of everyday citizens framed before colors expressing each person’s political allegiance. Each night in February, just before the witching hour, Dailey’s three-minute video, “Jikai” (Japanese for “self-destruction”), featuring a white moth maniacally circling a brightly burning bulb, will be simulcast on 15 of Times Square’s massive digital screens. As the background segues from red to violet to blue, you might find yourself, in this month of Saint Valentine, contemplating desire and power — how Icarus flew too close to the sun, how hearts can be bruised, and how empires, like singed moths, can fall.

Mondays-Sundays, 11:57 p.m. Starts: Feb. 17. Continues through Feb. 28, 2014