Gallery: Exclusive Backstory Behind The Bay Lights: It's More About the Art Than the Tech
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*Though The Bay Lights has been heralded as the perfect nexus of technology and art -- and even a testament to the maker ethos -- I question whether 'technology' is worthy of its equal billing with 'art' in this project. Especially since the massive installation is more defined by* technological restraint *than anything else.*
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*Leo was the only artist I considered and he had come to my attention by chance. There were no competitions, no proposals, no criteria, no judging panels. When he created his rendering of the bridge as a canvas, it provided us with an easily sharable and shared vision for inspiring others to action. Here, artist Leo Villareal and Amy Critchett uncrate and inspect a scale model of The Bay Lights.*
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*A growing, diverse community of support formed -- united by people giving their time, their money, even putting their political capital on the line. This is a fundraising event with Leo Villareal, Ben Davis, and Dorka Keehn.*
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*The project broke the traditional public vs. private sector divide in public art. Here, Caltrans employees and contractors wait for The Bay Lights kick off meeting to begin.*
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*A page from Gian Pablo Villamil's sketchbook. He helped design the clips that hold The Bay Lights in place.*
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*Many of the initial designs of the clips that hold The Bay Lights were printed on a Makerbot Replicator, which helped save the day when there was a dramatic *Oceans-Eleven*-like "pinch" moment \[story shared in video below\].*
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*One of the electricians had a little fun turning the table, er, camera on a bunch of media that invaded his work space one night on the Bay Bridge.*
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*Most of the installation happened late at night with a single- or double-lane closure. The entire project was about getting around barriers and making things happen within constraints.*
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*Jason Cipriani, Leo's programmer, pauses for a moment on a catwalk under the Bay Bridge to capture a view few see.*
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*When the idea for The Bay Lights first flickered in my head, I wasn’t thinking about technology. I was grappling with personal notions of love and fear. The human side of the equation is what made it possible to transcend the plague of political polarization. It still amazes me how pure the process — or lack of process — was.*
