The Art Newspaper

Artist enlists smart-phone users to control his light work

Lozano-Hemmer to light up Philadelphia's sky

By Eric Magnuson. Web only
Published online: 23 July 2012

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's light sculptures will brighten the night sky in Philadelphia in September

An interactive public work by the Mexican-Canadian media artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer will let viewers use their voices to create light sculptures across the Philadelphia sky.

This autumn, Lozano-Hemmer is planning to point 24 powerful searchlights into the night sky, allowing anyone using a free mobile app developed by the artist’s studio to change each beam’s brightness and position with their words. The project will create a canopy of light that can be seen up to ten miles away from the project’s base on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

“Open Air”, which is due to run from 20 September to 14 October, has been commissioned by the Association for Public Art, a 140-year-old organisation that went by the name Fairmount Park Art Association until early May.

The work of art will cap an eventful year on the Parkway. The Rodin Museum re-opened on the avenue on 13 July after a three-year, $9m renovation and next door the new Barnes opened in May.