Illuminate!

illuminate

vb [ɪˈluːmɪˌneɪt]

1.(tr) to throw light in or into; light up to illuminate a room

2.(tr) to make easily understood; clarify

3. to adorn, decorate, or be decorated with lights

4. (Bookbinding) (tr) to decorate (a letter, page, etc.) by the application of colors, gold, or silver

5.(intr) to become lighted up



Illuminate, a week long, site-specific installation in Scripps Park, opening on Saturday, May 14th, 2011, will feature messages from Detroiters attached to thousands of glowing LEDs that will shed light on the energy that is surrounding the revival of Detroit.

The project is made possible by Foward Arts, Woodbridge Neighborhood Development Corporation and Friends of Scripps Park through Access Arts, Forwards Arts' Visual Arts & Education Program with financial support from the MCACA, Lear and community donations



How it works:

I will invite participants to write a message on a slip of handmade paper. This message can express their view as a citizen of Detroit, or answer a posed question, such as:

Why do you believe in Detroit?

What is a way to make Detroit a better place?

What do you want the rest of the world to know about Detroit?

The messages will then be encased in a layer of waterproof contact paper, and attached to a small, colored LED light and placed in the park. The end result will be an illuminated park that also serves as a manuscript, and viewers will be invited to interact with the lights, reading messages and re-arranging them throughout the space.

By including messages from Detroiters of all walks of life, I will exhibit a cohesive bond in the community through a collection of glowing ideas that will be visually and conceptually vibrant.

The LED message lights in Illuminate will be attached to objects throughout Scripps Park- hung from trees, scattered on the grass, magnetized to the playground equipment and the iconic gate surrounding the perimeter. The ideal result will be noticeable to street traffic from Trumbull, Grand River, and Martin Luther King Drive.

The messages, process and final installation of Illuminate will be photographed and formed into a print-on-demand artist’s book, which will be available for sale online, with a portion of the proceeds donated to the Revitalization of Scripps Park and to the Greening of Detroit. A limited edition artists book will also be made in later months and copies of this book will be donated to the Detroit Institute of Arts, MOCAD, The Detroit Public Library, The School of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts at Wayne State University, and the Center for Book and Paper Arts at Columbia College Chicago.



On a Personal Note:

Until this summer, when I relocated to Chicago for graduate school, I lived in Detroit for 10 years. I spent a year of that time living in Woodbridge, on Trumbull between Alexandrine and Selden, right around the corner from Scripps Park. I always dreamed that the Park could be as alive and vibrant as the burgeoning community around it, and I participated in several clean-up initatives in and around Scripps. This installation would allow me an opportunity to work in this area again, and give back to the community, as well as voice some of the community’s concerns through the messages of light.

To HELP/ FOLLOW this project, please visit:
The Kickstarter Page for Illuminate
Illuminate Project Blog
Event Page on Facebook