After a long stretch of darkness, the Bay Bridge lights are returning
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Tuesday, November 5, 2024


After a long stretch of darkness, the Bay Bridge lights are returning
The Bay Lights installation on the Bay Bridge, as seen from San Francisco, Feb. 28, 2013. The art installation, a 1.8-mile stretch of sparkle on the bridge connecting San Francisco with Oakland, has been off since March 2023, but will return with nearly twice as many lights next year, the team behind the project says. (Jim Wilson/The New York Times)

by Heather Knight



NEW YORK, NY.- The gray Bay Bridge, the region’s workhorse bridge connecting San Francisco with Oakland, has never gotten as much acclaim as its splashy red neighbor to the northwest. But lately, it’s been even more muted than usual.

For the past 14 months, the bridge’s Bay Lights art installation — 25,000 LEDs that twinkled across 300 cables on the western span of the bridge — has been turned off.

Now, fans of the 1.8-mile stretch of sparkle can rejoice. The team behind the installation says it will be coming back with nearly twice as many lights. The target date is next March.

“I feel like there’s a hole in the night sky,” said Ben Davis, the founder of Illuminate, the San Francisco public arts nonprofit behind Bay Lights. “It’s going to feel so good when we bring them back.”

Davis surprised Bay Area residents in January 2023 when he announced that the installation had deteriorated so badly after 10 years that it had become too difficult and expensive to maintain. He turned the lights off that March, and promised a sturdier version if donors would contribute $11 million.

Raising the funds took a lot longer than expected, he said, but Davis finally has the money. “The project,” he said, “is officially a go.”

Leo Villareal, the artist behind the original Bay Lights, is busily crafting the new version. Known as “Bay Lights 360,” the display will include 46,000 lights shimmering in abstract, wavelike formations that never repeat — similar to the old installation, but with better quality lights.

“It’s like tuning a musical instrument,” Villareal said. “We’re trying to do something that’s very, very complicated in a brutal environment in terms of the moisture and vibration and all the things that happen on the bridge.”

The old display was constructed in such a way that the lights were seen mostly by those living in the northern part of San Francisco and Marin County. Now, they’ll be seen by people in the city’s south side and the East Bay, too.

The new lights are being custom-made by Musco Lighting in Iowa so that if one light goes out, it won’t affect the others. And, the company says that the lights should stand up better to bridge traffic and San Francisco’s always-changing weather.

The plan is to begin removing the old lights in September. Saeed Shahmirzai, a senior construction manager for Zoon Engineering, which will install the new lights, said the work would mean nighttime lane closures this fall.

Mechanized baskets will lift workers up and down the cables to install the lights with safety crews positioned underneath. The lights should be in place by the end of the year, and, after a couple months of testing, flicker on in March.

Davis eschewed any public funds, figuring that City Hall has more urgent matters to spend its money on, and he also rebuffed corporate sponsorship.

Donations came from WhatsApp founder Jan Koum, WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg, and philanthropists Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock and Tad and Dianne Taube, among others.

The final $200,000 donation that pushed the project across the finish line came from Roger and Adrienne Bamford. He’s an architect at MongoDB, an open-source document database company, and she’s an investor and consultant for tech companies.

The couple acknowledged their self-interest: Their condo at the Infinity has huge windows that look out over the Bay Bridge. They can see rush-hour traffic, side shows and protests — but they miss the nightly light show and want it back.

“We’ll appreciate it even more because it went away,” Roger Bamford said.

Adrienne Bamford nodded. “It’s so special,” she said. “A little piece of magic.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.










Today's News

May 4, 2024

Frieze New York brings a rich, cross-cultural mix

Court says Italy is rightful owner of bronze held by Getty Museum

Renault Collection, leading the way

They used to award Olympic medals for art?

An artist from Kosovo takes flight

11 spring art fairs kick off for buyers and browsers alike

Christie's announces highlights from Modern & Contemporary Art sale

India's master of nostalgia takes his sweeping vision to Netflix

Nye & Company announces 2 online-only photography auctions

What is a song?

Rarest rocket-launching Boba Fett action figure featured in Heritage's May 31 'Star Wars' Auction

Duane Eddy, whose twang changed rock 'n' roll, dies at 86

Standouts at NADA New York, the fair for up-and-comers

'Lempicka' to end Broadway run a month after opening

Peggy Mellon Hitchcock, who helped Timothy Leary turn on, dies at 90

'Pokémon,' 'Magic: The Gathering' cards share rare uncut test sheet in Heritage's Trading Card Games Auction

Museum of Graffiti announces the grand opening of a new fine art gallery

Chazen Museum of Art names Cat Birk as winner of 2024 Panczenko MFA Prize

Lesley Lokko receives King's Royal Gold Medal for Architecture

How Rachel Khong conjures worlds, in her books and beyond

She wrote 'The History of White People.' She has a lot more to say.

The wartime music of Debussy and Komitas, still resonating today

Tim Kent disrupts traditional depictions of the interior space in his enchanting exhibition at JD Malat Gallery

After a long stretch of darkness, the Bay Bridge lights are returning

Wang Zixin: A VFX visionary redefining the boundaries of Chinese cinema

How Door N Key Locksmith West Palm Beach Ensures Readiness for Emergency Call-Outs

Three Great Slot Games Adapted From Hit Movies

Detailed Guide on the Top Factors When Finding Exciting VR Attractions

6 advantages of a multi-station home gym: your all-in-one fitness solution




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Holistic Dentist
Abogado de accidentes
สล็อต
สล็อตเว็บตรง

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful