Two years ago, my wife and I stumbled upon an amazing event happening in Boston near Fenway Park.  It was Illuminus Boston, and we were completely blown away at how much fun it was to experience incredible and unique works of art.  All of them used light in spectacular ways for an immersive experience in this public art event.

This year, I made every effort to attend Illuminus Boston, which was held this weekend in the Downtown Crossing and surrounding areas part of Boston.  It was a great night, and the artworks were equally terrific.  I've posted photos from a number of the exhibits but here are some highlights.  

Perhaps my favorite exhibit was one called "Depth Compression" by Callie Chapman.  I believe another performance art piece was done in conjunction with this exhibit called "Public Displays of Motion."  Depth Compression basically took imagery of the sidewalk and projected it in  a compressed format, duplicated, and at a 90 degree angle.  The effect was very cool.  There were three dancers with bright colored wigs that made various dance and body movements along the sidewalk that were then projected behind their performance.  Perhaps you "had to be there" to get it, but it was very cool.  Trust me.  

Another exhibit was a projected movie showing dance, with a live DJ, which turned into a live Dance Party in the middle of Washington St. in Downtown Crossing.  

One of my favorites was a collection of abstract video imagery created by several artists projected on the facade of a large downtown building.  I've seen a similar type of thing before in Sydney, Australia, several years ago.  

The event was Friday November 3, and Saturday November 4, 2017 from 6-11 pm, so if you missed it already, be sure to catch it next year! 

​Below are some of my photos, but I encourage you to check out illuminusboston.org and also look it up using the Hashtag:  #illuminusboston

The main exhibit during my visit was entitled "Pixel Forest," which is the first New York survey of the Swiss artist, Pipilotti Rist.  The exhibit opened in October 2016 and is only on view through January 15, 2017.  Pipilotti Rist is a pioneer of video art installations that blend visual displays with sound and immerse the viewer in a completely new environment from the moment the museum's elevator doors open!  The exhibit takes up almost the entire museum's exhibition space on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Floors of the museum and includes work from the artist’s entire career.  ​

​I really enjoyed walking though "Administrating Eternity" which featured video projections on numbers sheets of transparent fabric suspended from the ceiling.  Walking through the exhibit, you feel immersed and even part of the experience.  You see other people, their shadows, seeing parts of the video and missing segments of others, fabric moving with the breeze as you walk by, etc.  

One of her pieces included a chandelier made from undergarments.  Another unique and very cool installation was "Pixelwald" and comprises 3,000 LED lights that are suspended from the ceiling and change colors over time.  I loved the whole experience walking through, hearing the sounds the artist chose, looking at the uniquely-designed shapes of the lights.  Every one was different and beautiful.  For all of Pipilotti Rist’s pieces, the sounds of heartbeats, forest sounds, and oceansounds almost put you in a trance.  If you visit the exhibit, take some time to sit, and experience some of the videos, which are quite fascinating and visually esoteric.  Some of the footage was even filmed underwater.  I've included some photos of the exhibit below.

​I should also mention Chris Burden's "Ghost Ship" that was part of his exhibit at the Museum in 2013.  The ship was conceived to sail autonomously and unmanned off the coast of Scotland.  In 2005, the "Ghost Ship" did, in fact, sail 400 miles!  It remains on the facade of the museum's exterior as a tribute to his legacy.  You can see a photo of the ship in the photo at the start of the blog article.   It's quite something to see and represents some of his work other than the permanent installation at Brandeis University in front of the Rose Art Museum and at LACMA.  

For more information about the New Museum, check out their website:  www.newmuseum.org.