AWA will be teaming up with Phosphorus to build a 30’ by 30’ interactive installation called “Biography Collective” where spectators become the artist of a collaborative canvas of light. As four participant’s step into the role of creator, the installation will use various techniques and materials on overhead projector screens to simultaneously beam images onto the installation’s wrapping skin. These collective light paintings can be enjoyed from afar; however, spectators are encouraged to venture into the piece and embark on the metaphorical journey of the human life experience. The dark sensorium entrance re-creates the experience of birth, as visitors must wade through hanging bags of glowing liquids. Once inside the main cavern of the piece, surrounded on all sides by instantaneous creative impulses, one experiences the 360 degree stimulus of life-energy, cultivating and communicating human’s agency to construct and color the world which we share.

The elliptical Turrellian opening contrasts the night sky above, reminding viewers of the balance between the man-made realm and the grounding of civilization under the ever expanding celestial cosmos. To complete the journey, visitors again must wade through the exit, however the light, color and sensual experience of “death” are diametrically opposite as those experienced at “birth”. Biography Collective represents the metamorphosis of birth and death, the experience of life, and the gaze of society, all revolving around the creative forces of the cosmos and celebrates the biography of individual life and humanity through light. It is a piece that is conceived as an active reminder of the potential for human agency and creative change; that we are all artists with the capacity to create our world experience and community narrative.

The Festival will be held at Lyons Pool, a publicly-owned NYC Department of Parks and Recreation site.

For the Lumen Festival’s webpage, please click here

Click here to read the AWA Blog Article

SEE AWA PROJECTS SECTION FOR IMAGES OF THE PROJECT