FLASH:LIGHT FESTIVAL
Each year Materials & Methods co-produces a number of light and projection festivals in NYC and Brooklyn. Working in collaboration with the Nuit Blanche organization, these festivals have attracted worldwide recognition.Upwards of 25,000 people gather to experience the collective efforts of 50+ local and internationally renowned artists whose work transforms urban streetscapes and façades of various New York City neighborhoods into illuminating public art spectacles.
For one night the county’s oldest cathedral was transformed inside and out with 3D projection installations. The exterior facade of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral was transformed into a larger-than-life transparent time-piece inspired by the inner working of Audemars Piguet’s watches, astrological underpinnings of modern-day religions, and the history of the cathedral. This 3D projection mapping spectacle called “The Equation of Time” was designed by Jeff Grantz of Materials & Materials. Five 12K Barco projectors were edge blended and mapped to cover the entire exterior facade of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral. Inside the cathedral, Marco Brambilla premiered the 3D version of “Civilization”, a high-definition remake of “Dante’s Divine Comedy”, involving over 300 individual channels of looped video.
“Let Us Make Cake” was a collaborative projection installation created expressly for the facade of the New Museum on Bowery. Dozens of artists were asked to interact with scale models of the museum ranging in size 11 inches to 11 feet, embracing the museum as both a canvas and vessel. The resulting footage was projected onto the 174-foot façade of the museum from a 13 story building across the street using four 20K Christie projectors.
In May 2011, Materials & Methods co-produced Flash: Light, a festival of site-specific light and projection art. Flash: Light was officially sponsored by Audemars Piguet and was part of the New Museum’s Festival of Ideas for the New City, a collaborative initiative to harness the power of the creative community to imagine the future city and explore the ideas that will shape it. Flash: Light transformed the historic NoLita neighborhood in New York City with 3D projection mapped spectacles, public art installations, and performance pieces along Mulberry Street and the Bowery.
In the weeks leading up to the festival, the American Eagle Outfitters electronic billboard in Times Square, the largest LED sign in North America, advertised the event several times per hour featuring a video art piece by Jules Marquis accompanied by motion graphics designed by acclaimed graphic designer Natasha Jen from Pentagram, NYC.