Evento

Impossible Light Screening : Special screening with cast Q&A

NEW YORK CITY PREMIER:

In 2010, Ben Davis looked out over the water and was struck by a seemingly impossible idea to transform San Francisco's Bay Bridge's western span into a light sculpture and one of the world's largest art installations. Met with skepticism and resistance at every turn, he dedicated the next two-and-a-half years of his life to convincing the people of San Francisco and the art world that not only was his proposal physically and financially possible, but also that it was a project in which they would all want to take part. Director Jeremy Ambers follows Davis, world-renowned artist Leo Villareal and their team of designers, along with entrepreneurs, philanthropists, art enthusiasts and Bay Area optimists, as they embark on turning Davis' fantastic dream into a reality. It is an endeavor involving 25,000 LED lights, miles of cables, millions of privately donated dollars and thousands of hours of work, that transforms the bridge's suspension cables into the dancing sculpture known as The Bay Lights. Jason Berger

What many people don't know about The Bay Lights is the direct connection to the Playa. I was a participant of Burning Man 2010, with its theme of Metropolis, just two weeks before the idea that the Bay Bridge could be canvas of light hit me. The night spectacle of the Playa was still fresh in my brain. Leo Villareal finds his artistic voice on the Playa in the 1990s and sharpens his practice with LEDs there over the years. As I said in the NY Times five months before the installation went live: "You practically have to blow the playa dust off of it."