{"id":1186,"date":"2013-10-15T00:32:13","date_gmt":"2013-10-15T07:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artelectronicmedia.com\/artwork\/leo-villareals-bay-lights\/"},"modified":"2021-01-02T15:14:18","modified_gmt":"2021-01-02T23:14:18","slug":"leo-villareals-bay-lights","status":"publish","type":"artwork","link":"https:\/\/artelectronicmedia.com\/en\/artwork\/leo-villareals-bay-lights\/","title":{"rendered":"Leo Villareal’s – Bay Lights"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The%20Bay%20Lights.jpg\"Next time you plan a road trip to San Fran, don\u2019t be alarmed when crossing the Bay Bridge around 8:30 PM from now until 2015.\u00a0 Standing 500 feet high and stretching over a mile and a half long, The Bay Lights<\/a> installation is bound to surprise and grasp the attention of a few drivers. This LED installation is a magnificent work by renowned American artist Leo Villareal<\/a>. The structure consists of large individually wired LED rods of varying heights, erected on the bridges bace, following a structural vertical pattern. The Bay Light’s 25,000 LED\u2019s<\/a> react in various ways based on set algorithms, reacting to the natural elements such as weather, water and wildlife, and the unnatural, such as cars, boats and planes as well.\u00a0 In my opinion, the dancing LED\u2019s create a visually calming sensation, relaxing the mind and rejuvenating our senses. The remarkable visual display triggers and almost \u201cnatural high\u201d experience to the viewer.<\/p>\n

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Villareal explains, \u201cPeople’s perception of what the piece is will be highly subjective, no two people may see the same thing.\u201d\u00a0 Yet at the same time Villareal\u2019s intention is to tap into our emotional state of mind, on a level that we can all relate to.\u00a0 Similarly to Nocturnal Flow<\/a> by Erwin Redl, the Bay Lights react to natural varying elements of nature, therefore the LED\u2019s never repeat the same sequence. Both these installations are also most active in the wee hours of the night. According to Villareal, \u201cthings that you do as an artist in society should have a big impact, otherwise its not really worth it unless thats the case.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 Planned as a temporary installation from 2013-15, Bay Lights made such a big impact that funds were raised to make it a permanent installation and it has continued to light up the Bay Area night skyline since 2016. What it takes to keep it going is described in the following Smithsonian video:<\/p>\n