LIGHT YEAR
The Manhattan Bridge comes alive with LIGHT YEAR, an ongoing program of projected video art presented every First Thursday of the month since 2015. Through curated exhibitions, LIGHT YEAR connects viewers to a global selection of contemporary video and technology-based work. The exhibitions are a destination for many. Thousands have gathered to see work, their own and that of others. Meanwhile, numerous passers-by pause their commute to engage the surprising projections. The result is that many people have used LIGHT YEAR as a means to develop a new relationship with the bridge, the triangle and DUMBO itself, as a unique and active community space. This relationship also translates to the overall art community, in conversation and participation, the world over. LIGHT YEAR’s online live stream takes the experience from the DUMBO streets to the world, as do the numerous photos and videos continually posted on social media.
LIGHT YEAR was founded on the concept of building bridges, increasing communication and connection, and the Manhattan Bridge is the source of that inspiration. To date, hundreds of creative participants from every continent have been a part of LIGHT YEAR. The concept also invites participants to consider the confluence of all types of Video Art, Public Art and Experimental Cinema. Context changes meaning, the media and site become as crucial to the message as the content. As technology and science continue their rapid evolutionary tracks, LIGHT YEAR presents shifting points of view and perspective, which impact meaning and interaction.
LIGHT YEAR collaborators, John Ensor Parker, Leo Kuelbs, and Creative Team Glowing Bulbs have deep roots in Dumbo, as well as contributing to the international art world. Working with the Dumbo BID and the NYC DOT, LIGHT YEAR is an authentic representation of the neighborhood’s relationship to the city and the world beyond and is presented to the public, every first Thursday, free of charge.
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Form and Substance: Miami was an exhibition coinciding with Art Basel: Miami Beach, at Miami's Bayfront Park and the world famous InterContinental Miami. Form and Substance:Miami combined an interior gallery style exhibition of projection mapping, video, light art and a monumental, temporary, exterior public art installation projected onto the InterContinental Miami's north façade, which at 100 meters tall was visible from Bayfront Park to well beyond.
Form and Substance was founded by a group of artists, designers, and projection mapping specialists to provide a platform for artists working in the cutting edge mediums of projection and light to display their work to new audiences. The founding members of Form and Substance include Bryan and Michelle Dodson of Integrated Visions Productions, Joel Fitzpatrick, Danny Whetstone of DWP Live, Brian Blessinger and John Ensor Parker. Team members have been instrumental in creating and producing large and small scale projection mapping installations around the country,
Associate Producer / Co-Curator of Projection Mapping
The New York Festival of Light (NYFOL) is an annual public cultural festival featuring a curated collection of light based art installations and performances from New York City and around the world. The inaugural festival took place November 2014 in partnership with the DUMBO Business Improvement District. John was the associate producer of the overall festival including site acquisition, production planning and also co-curated the mapping portion of the festival with curator Leo Kuelbs.
NYFOL is presented by New York Festival of Light Organization, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
Glowing Bulbs featuring John Ensor Parker
Presented as part of "Illuminated Ops" mapping exhibition
Curated by Leo Kuelbs and John Ensor Parker
Curated by: John Ensor Parker + Leo Kuelbs
Presented by: 3_Search
"Codex Dynamic" was a publicly presented video projection exhibition, that took place during the 2012 Dumbo Arts Festival. Comprised of an international cast of artists and covering 33,000+ sq. ft. (3,065 sq. meters) of the Manhattan Bridge Anchorage, Archway and the adjacent cityscape, the exhibition employed the latest in video mapping technologies.
Two artists' collectives created 3D video-mapped works covering the surface of the Manhattan Bridge's East Anchorage elevation and the interior of the Archway. The majority of the single-channel works appeared within the Archway, while "Isolation Tank" by Gary Hill was seen on an adjacent architectural surface at Water St. & Jay St.
Video Projections Systems Provided jointly by WorldStage Inc and Nationwide Video Equipment Rental. Additional support provided by the Dumbo Arts Festival, NYC DOT Urban Art Program & the Dumbo BID.
Participating artists include:
Video-mapping:
Glowing Bulbs + John Ensor Parker
Integrated Visions
Single-channel:
Enid Baxter Blader
Eelco Brand
Monika Bravo
Shahram Entekhabi
Jesse Fleming
Gary Hill
Jaakko Pallasvuo
SYSTEM D-128
Eszter Szabo
Gabriela Vainsencher
Mariana Vassileva
Sarah Walko + Malado Baldwin
Yi Zhou
Marina Zurkow + Daniel Shiffman
Executive Producer / Dome Projection Mapping & A/V
Evolution² was a dome-based projection-mapping event created by The Leo Kuelbs Collection and Glowing Bulbs with production design and execution by John Ensor Parker in celebration of the release of Dom Perignon’s new P2 Premium Champagne. Presented a private location, to a select audience, Evolution² is customized evolution, a desire for heightened individuality, incorporating transformative blends of nature, science, art and design.
Assistant Art Director
John was invited by Integrated Visions Productions to be part of the Art Direction Team on the Saks Fifth Avenue's annual projection mapping and lighting event in 2014 titled "An Enchanted Experience".
The show features the innovative integration of LED and strobe lighting fixtures combined into an architectural projection mapping show on the iconic facade of Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City. Lighting design and projections, designed by Integrated Visions Productions. An array of 1800 LED nodes as well as strobes, up-lights, and lit garlands installed by American Christmas.
DWP Live provided the projection equipment and support for the installation, using Barco 26,000 lumen HD projectors to illuminate the facade and the Coolux Pandora’s Box Media Server to drive the display. To synchronize the lighting and sound with the video, Integrated Visions used the Pharos Controls LPC4.
The live stream of the opening performance, which featured the Rockettes and Grucci Fireworks, is estimated to have been seen by over 5 million people. The presentation played every ten minutes daily from November 24th thru January 4th to an estimated audience of 25 million people.
Video Projections on the Manhattan Bridge
September 17th, 18th and 21st, Manhattan Bridge/Anchorage Place at Pearl St./DUMBO
John Ensor Parker, Leo Kuelbs Collection and Glowing Bulbs are partnered with IFP for Film Week 2016.
To celebrate Film Week's move to Brooklyn, there was a curated selection of past Light Year videos projected for three special engagements on September 17th, 18th, and 21st, featuring video and animation from both established and up-and-coming artists from around the globe.
These three Film Week presentations were projected onto the Manhattan Bridge anchorage from dusk until 10PM on all three nights, in conjunction with IFP Film Week events.
Artists:
Vadim Schaeffler + Pablo Paolo Kilian, Sarah Walko + Justin King, Thomas D. Rotenberg + Jarboe, Karl Erickson + Justin King, Ryan Uzilevsky, Cyriac Harris + Eskmo, Gabor Kitzinger + Alex Hamadey, Laszlo Zsolt Bordos, Robert Seidel, Thomas D. Rotenberg + Damian Master, Caspar Stracke, Gabor Kitzinger + Alex Hamadey, Visakh Menon + Heavy Birds, Shir Lieberman, Jonathan Phelps + Fabio Fonda, UNITED VJs, Laszlo Zsolt Bordos
About IFP: The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) champions the future of storytelling by connecting artists with essential resources at all stages of development and distribution. IFP fosters a vibrant and sustainable independent storytelling community, represents a growing network of 10,000 storytellers around the world, and plays a key role in developing 350 new feature and documentary works each year. During its 35-year history, IFP has supported over 8,000 projects and offered resources to more than 20,000 filmmakers, including Debra Granik, Miranda July, Michael Moore, Dee Rees, and Benh Zeitlin.
Video Projection Exhibition
Curated by: John Ensor Parker + Leo Kuelbs
Presented by: 3_Search
Manhattan Bridge Anchorage
Dumbo, Brooklyn, November, 2014
As Part of: New York Festival of Light (NYFOL)
3_Search presents, “Initiations,” a single channel and projection mapped video exhibition, as part of the inaugural New York Festival of Lights. Projected on the north façade of the Manhattan Bridge Anchorage, “Initiations” is curated by John Ensor Parker and Leo Kuelbs and includes mapped works from Glowing Bulbs, Integrated Visions, dandelion & burdock, Bordos, Robert Seidel and others.
Documentation video by Blue Barn Pictures, INC
Curated by John Ensor Parker + Leo Kuelbs
Presented by 3_Search, Illuminated Ops was a video projection-mapping exhibition that took place December 2013 on the former National Geospatial Intelligence Agency building at The Yards in Washington DC.
Participating Artists:
Glowing Bulbs featuring John Ensor Parker
Integrated Visions
United VJs.
Video documentation by Marton Gabor
Sound Design by Péter Sabák (Studio H)
The project was made possible by Forrest City and The Art Yards.
Presented by 3_Search
Curated by: John Ensor Parker + Leo Kuelbs
“Dumbo Glow” is a single-channel video exhibition presented on the Manhattan Bridge anchorage that continues a winter tradition started in Berlin in 2009. The “Glow” series brought together a wide array of video works from a full spectrum of artists and created a “homecoming” like atmosphere. “DUMBO Glow” expands this tradition by bringing it to New York City.
Participating Artists:
Anne Katrine Senstad
Christine Schulz
Constantin Hartenstein
Dana Levy
Danielle de Picciotto
Denis Salivanov
James Edmonds
Jesse Fleming
Karl Erickson
Monica Cook
Nicole Antebi
Noah Klersfeld
Sarah Walko
Tomas Eller
Video still from “West Coast Indians” by Anne Katrine Senstad
as part of “DUMBO Glow”
Video Exhibition on the Manhattan Bridge Anchorage, DUMBO, 2015
Curated by: John Ensor Parker + Sarah Walko
Artists:
Ella Condon (Australia) The Light Loop
Joao Penoni (South America | Brazil) Volt
Klaus Pamminger (Europe | Austria) Notes on Mackey
Marina Zurkow (North America | USA) Elixir
Paul Miller | djSpooky (Antarctica) Sinfonia Antarctica
Shahram Entekhabi (Asia | Iran) I am John Galt
Zina Saro-Wiwa (Africa | Nigeria) Sarogua Mourning
“Crest and Trough” is a video exhibition with each of the seven continents being represented. The title is a derived reference to the four oceans that lie between the continents and their waves that continually unify and transmit. The space between the crest and the trough of a wave varies depending on the size and amplitude. This as a metaphor is a dynamic region contains varying perspectives of life, death, tradition and culture from each continent to culminate in New York City together, sharing the same canvas.
“Crest and Trough” is presented as a part of “Light Year”, a series of projected video art exhibitions that occur on the First Thursday of every month in DUMBO, Brooklyn on the Manhattan Bridge Anchorage. It is made possible by 3_Search, the DUMBO Business Improvement District and the NYC Department of Transportation Art Program, "Light Year” was conceived in honor of the United Nations’ declaration of 2015 as The Year of Light.
Attached image credit: Video still from “Sarogua Mourning” by Zina Saro-Wiwa
