NEW YORK – October 3, 2014 – The New York Festival of Light (NYFOL)) announces New York City’s first annual New York Festival of Light, a three-night event – Thursday through Saturday, November 6 -8, 2014 – that celebrates light, in all of its extraordinary incarnations. New York now joins the ranks of major cities such as Berlin, London, Lyon, Montreal, and Sydney that have festivals of light. The festival is free and open to the public.
The festival, which is held in partnership with the DUMBO Improvement District, features a curated collection of lighting installations created by local and internationally renowned lighting designers, visual and performing artists, and technologists who work within the medium of light. The spectacle takes place in the Archway under the Manhattan Bridge and in the surrounding plaza space.
Approximately ten interactive, projection, and static lighting installations, will take part in NYFOL 2014.
Highlights include:
Sounds of Nature – Tupac Martir, visual artist and production designer, and lighting director for Elton John, Beyoncé, Sting, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, to name a few, has created an installation for the plaza that is composed of umbrellas that and LEDs that are triggered by sensors sensitive to the weather, and the movement of the people to create different patterns of sound and light.
Laser Light Show – Howard Ungerleider, whose amazing architectural lighting, stage lighting, and set design presents a high-powered laser light show, complete with smoke, in the Archway.
Initiations – 3_Search a creative collective is curating a projection mapped video series that explores the transitory place where endings and beginnings overlap in perpetual evolution, and incorporates works by international projections mappers including from Glowing Bulbs, Integrated Visions, dandelion & burdock and others on the facade of the Manhattan Bridge Anchorage.
In addition NYFOL 2014 will feature illuminated ice sculptures, performances by iLuminate, a DJ, food trucks, and hundreds of visitors. Hours are 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM on Thursday and 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM on Friday and Saturday.
NYFOL is the brainchild of Liam O’Braion, a producer of large-scale entertainment events and Ira Levy, an award-winning New York City-based lighting designers. On October 24, 2013, NYFOL produced ‘First Light’ at the Elizabeth Street Garden in NoLIta. Hundreds of New Yorkers attended and had the opportunity to experience in microcosm, what will be seen at NYFOL 2014 in DUMBO.
“NYFOL 2014 will transform the nightscape of DUMBO into a magical place,” says Liam O’Braion, co-founder of the festival, and festival of light will definitely fill a void in the city’s cultural calendar.”
For more information view https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RhAyiGqRNE&index=1&list=UU8zdlezQXdURN9E2JiWkoPQ
Note: There will be a press preview of the installations and an opportunity to meet with the lighting designers on November 6th. Details on the press preview as well as additional installations will be announced shortly.
About the New York Festival of Light
The New York Festival of Light Organization (NYFOL) is a 501c3 non-profit art group whose vision is to create and provide a unique and delightful experience for residents and tourists; enhancing NYC’s architecture through interactive, static and projected lighting installations. Discovering a more imaginative future, NYFOL will encourage lighting designers to explore the promise of and possibilities for light in the public realm; showcasing the nature of light as a dramatic, kinetic form of artistic expression. The New York Festival of Light will highlight sustainable lighting solutions; leading the way with cutting edge design solutions that can enhance the urban environment thru energy-efficiency and sustainability.