GLOBAL – NEW YORK, USA, MAY 2011 – The Festival of Ideas for the New City last May 4 to 8 was a major new collaborative initiative in New York involving scores of Downtown organizations, from universities to arts institutions and community groups, working together to effect change. The goal is to harness the power of the creative community to imagine the future city and explore the ideas destined to shape it.
On the night of May 7, Flash: Light turned Mulberry Street, Patrick’s Cathedral and the facade of New Museum into a breathtaking nighttime environment of temporary, site-specific public art entitled “Let Us Make Cake”. An artist-driven antidote to light based advertising and the capitalization of public space, the event serves as a new platform for artist working in light, sound, performance and projection art to present groundbreaking work that re-imagines an iconic New York City neighborhood. About over 5,000 people came to see the spectacle.
To create “Let Us Make Cake”, over 20 artists were asked to work with scale models of the museum ranging in sizes from 11 inches to 11 feet, embracing the museum as both canvas and vessel. The resulting footage was a 20-minute projection-mapping onto the New Museum from 8pm Saturday evening to 2am the following morning. This was the first time projection was used to animate the entire 174-foot facade of the museum.
The Media Merchants were a technical sponsor for the event and assisted the artists in the execution of their installations – 12 in all.
In an interview with The Creators Project, Light Harvest’s creative director Ryan Uzilevsky stated that the title “Let Us Make Cake” got its name from a play on “let them eat cake” which Marie Antoinette was said to have replied when told that the peasants were starving and complaining of having no bread. The quote itself has been used to express the ignorance of the ruling class. Uzilevsky said, that at present, America seems to be falling to pieces and more meaningful culture is being edged out everyday – cultural starvation. “Let Us Make Cake” is about making one’s own “luxury”, which is more sustainable than going out and buying luxury goods.
The 3D Projection Mapping on St. Patrick’s Cathedral explored themes of seasons, time and light.
CREDITS: “Let Us Make Cake”
Commissioned by: New Museum
Directed by: Nuit Blanche New York & Light Harvest Studios
Presenting Sponsor: Audemars Piguet
Technical Sponsors: The Media Merchants, Materials & Methods, Float 4 Interactive, Bluewhale Studios, 1976 Productions, Eastern Effects
Participating Artists (in order of appearance):
Daniel Arsham, Acconci Studio, Federico Frum, Street Art (Elle, Tony Bones, Michael Alan, Jon Bocksel, Sarah Cooper, James Dyvbig, Aimee Lusty, Ian McGillivray, Scott Myers, Misha Tyutyunik), Read More, Chris Jordan, Ursula Scherrer and Claire Scoville, Z Collective, Alyssa Taylor Wendt, Junko Miura, Mary Temple, SOFTlab, Ryan Uzilevsky, Brian O’Connell, Mia Pearlman, Adriana Varella, Dustin Yellin, Chakaia Booker, Olek, Terreform ONE, Jason Krugman / John Parker, Monika Wyndham, Jon Kessler, Light Harvest Studios, Marilyn Minter
Saint Patrick’s Cathedral 3D Projection Mapping
Directed by: Materials & Methods
Animations: Blue Whale
Technical Sponsors: Media Merchants, Materials & Methods, Float 4 Interactive, Bluewhale Studios, 1976 Productions, Eastern Effects
