NEW YORK, NY.- The Garment District Alliance has unveiled Passage, an interactive art installation comprised of 20 circles of light that form a pedestrian tunnel on Broadway. As visitors walk through the exhibition, each circle emits light and sounds, creating a transformative, playful experience in the heart of Midtown Manhattan.
Located on Broadway in the Garment District between 39th and 40th Streets, Passage is free and will be available to the public through February 13th.
“Passage is truly a fantastic exhibition that has transformed the pedestrian experience on Broadway with its bright, colorful presence,” said Barbara A. Blair, president of the Garment District Alliance. “As we kick off the new year, we encourage New Yorkers and visitors to enjoy this outdoor immersive installation as part of their visit to the Garment District.”
The interactive installation invites passersby through an illuminated path, creating an exciting sensory experience as they travel from one end of the tunnel to the other and exploring the emotional connection one develops with light and sound.
Passage was created by Serge Maheu, with fabrication and assembly by Félix Ménard. It was first presented at the Montréal en Lumière in 2017 in Montréal, Canada, and was created for Illuminart, a circuit that fused art, lighting and technology.
The Garment District Alliance revealed the immersive installation in collaboration with the Québec Government Office in New York, who served as a sponsor for the second consecutive year.
"With Passage, Québec’s creativity shines on Broadway for the fifth year in a row, and the Garment District Alliance demonstrates its strong leadership in presenting world-class public art that brings life and culture into public spaces,” said Martine Hébert, Québec’s Delegate General in New York. “Bravo to all involved!”
The installation is part of Garment District Art on the Plazas, a year-round public art program made possible through the NYC Department of Transportation’s Art Program (DOT Art). The Garment District Alliance and DOT Art work closely to coordinate and install exhibits and individual pieces, which enhance public plazas and make them even more welcoming to New Yorkers and visitors.
Previous installations have included Prismatica by RAW Design in collaboration with ATOMIC3, an immersive art exhibit presented in 2021 comprised of multi-colored prisms that filled the plazas with reflections and musical sounds; Impulse by Lateral Office and CS Design, a number of over-sized, illuminated seesaws presented in 2020 that enabled visitors to create their own light show in the heart of Midtown; Iceberg by ATOMIC3, a series of illuminated metallic arches presented in 2019 that symbolized the lifecycle of an iceberg; and LOOP by Olivier Girouard, Jonathan Villeneuve and Ottoblix, an immersive exhibit presented in early 2018 that invited the public to bring animated flipbook-style musical movies to life by activating large, retro-futuristic cylinders.
