Andy Warhol’s 1964 film Empire shows a fixed view of the Empire State Building for about eight hours. The film was shot in New York and presents the skyscraper in an extremely long, nearly unchanging take.
Empire runs for 485 minutes, or 8 hours and 5 minutes. Warhol and filmmaker Jonas Mekas filmed the Empire State Building from the 41st floor of the Time-Life Building on July 25, 1964.
The film was shot at 24 frames per second but intended to be projected at 16 frames per second. That difference lengthened the projected running time and made the building’s slow changes in light even more pronounced.
Empire belongs to Warhol’s experiments with duration, stillness, and ordinary visual experience. It is often mentioned alongside Sleep, another very long Warhol film, but Sleep focuses on a sleeping person rather than an architectural landmark.