Two interactive and Instagram-ready light installations have hit the Yards Park boardwalk to brighten cold nights through early 2019.
“Angels of Freedom” from Gaston Zahr and Merav Eitan of Israel-based OGE Group, turns sinners into celestial beings with two sets of gigantic neon wings and white halos.
The artists deployed wings, which are timed to change every few moments, to remind us that we’re all angels and that everyone deserves love.
“Angels can be found in all cultures as symbols of higher beings, or for aspirations, higher moral and to be better, or beyond the daily life,” Zahr and Eitan say in a statement. “Without being blasphemous, we connect to this notion and aim to show that we are all having these qualities in us.”
Also making its D.C. debut is “The Pool,” from the Jen Lewin Studio in New York. It invites visitors to step, run, and jump on 106 motion-sensitive circular LED puddles of light that change colors on contact. When a group of people frolic in “The Pool,” their movements combine to ignite a huge canvas of colors in multiple patterns. Jumping in the space between the circles activates a similar effect with the discs closest to the point of impact.
Memories from an Australian camping trip Lewin took when she was 18 served as the inspiration for “The Pool.” She had situated herself in a flat spot where the tide rolls in.
“At night, when the tide was out, it left pools of water for as far as you could see,” Lewin says in a statement. “When the moon came out light reflected in these tide pools and it was beautiful. We would run around and play in them just struck by that moment in time that was so magical.”
Classical music from Lewin’s playlist is supposed to occasionally accompany your movements. While that function that wasn’t working for a media preview on Thursday, organizers said it’ll be on after the official launch on December 7.
The luminious displays comprise Light Yards, an outdoor public light art installation now in its fourth year at The Yards, a large-scale waterfront mixed-use redevelopment.
Besides adding holiday cheer to the neighborhood and offering something for kids and adults to enjoy, the resplendent installations serve as a magnet for people who haven’t visited the bustling neighborhood.
The hope is people oohing and aahing over the bright lights will patronize the shops and restaurants nearby, including a new Lululemon, said Jill Fredrick director of marketing for Forest City Washington, developer of The Yards. Her team developed the project.
“We have, obviously, a lot of restaurants and retail shops down here and a lot of people haven’t been down here,” she says. “They maybe were at a Nats game, but they haven’t wandered over to The Yards neighborhood.”
Light Yards runs from 6-10 p.m. each night from December 7 through January 4. For other light installations, check out ZooLights, GLOW and other cheerful holiday displays.
