Iconic Illuminated Art is Hot in the City
What happens when an international art festival, a New York City artist, and lighting company known for high performance lighting solutions works together? Something iconic.
POW! WOW! At the Ivy Corset Building
POW! WOW! Is an international mural arts festival that was founded by Jasper Wong. The first edition of POW! WOW! Was held in 2010 in Honolulu and was a weeklong mural arts festival. Since then POW! WOW! has expanded with exhibits in 17 cities worldwide. Each city adds its name to POW! WOW! Naturally, in Worcester, it is called POW! WOW! WORCESTER!
Adam Fujita, also known as Adam Fu, loves art. We will get back to that in a minute. Adam loves art. Adam’s recent neon style work has been an exploration of protest and resistance through the use of the medium of street art and the internet. He has been using the neon as a metaphor for “keeping the lights on.” Adam loves art. When Adam got done painting the smokestack at the Ivy Corset Building, out of inspiration, he collaborated with another artist to do graffiti art on the wall by roof deck of the Ivy Corset Building.
Illuminating the Mural
Access Fixtures is known for high performance lighting solutions. This project was a “What If.” What if we illuminated a large smokestack that was being painted by a leading artist and was part of an international art festival. Would it enhance the experience? Could more people experience the art? Would it become iconic? The answer was YES! The exhibition opened the first evening and included the lighting of the smokestack. The smokestack is visible from many points in the Main South area near downtown and people love it.
The smokestack is illuminated with Access Fixtures’ STAD light fixtures. To get it right, the lighting specialists and lighting engineers at Access Fixtures ran a photometric study to model the light. With an acceptable outcome, the project moved forward. The lighting id controlled by a photocell and a timer. The photocell turns on the lights at disk, while the timer shuts down the lights at 1am. The lighting is comprised of four 360 watt STADs with narrow optics and a glare shield. This concentrates the light on the smokestack and not in the neighbors windows.
Do you want to visit the art installation? It is located on 40 Jackson Street in Worcester Massachusetts. Enjoy!
