I really enjoy being from Brooklyn and representing this part of the New York City because sometimes Brooklyn gives a great show as well; especially DUMBO, which is essentially the center artistic expression in Brooklyn. As soon as I found out that the first New York Festival of Lights was happening at the tunnel under the Manhattan Bridge I was surely to attend this spectacle.
On November 7th at 7PM I visited NYFOL. It was a completely free event, accompanied by a great DJ and a super interesting audience. Not too many people knew about this event and thus all the visitors were interested and knowledgeable.
I was mostly surprised by the fact that no where in this installation was the
artist(s) mentioned. Clearly someone had to create this masterpiece but the artist’s input was not recognized. Perhaps, the artist wanted his work to become of the people and he wanted the people to emphasize the work rather than him?The entire installation was very interactive and dependent on the audience rather than the artist; wherever one would stand, they would see the installation differently. Finally, viewers even got a chance to put input in the installation by signing a scratch board.
In general, this was a very interesting and enjoyable installation despite the fact that it was really cold that day. I am very proud of Brooklyn for staging such events!
-Angelika
Brooklyn <3 never knew about this. Thank you for sharing.
This is really cool. Also, the idea that the artist probably didn’t put is name on the installations because he wanted it to belong to the people is really cool. Sometimes it bugs me when people scribble their name somewhere on their work, especially online (but it’s understandable because people can easily claim it as their own). It’s like the artist is always faced after creating a piece with choosing recognition or allowing the work to be its own.
I’m so jealous! I had the intention to go on all three days, but things just didn’t work out. I hope to next year, haha. It looks like it was beautiful, though!
I remember reading about this in the newspaper and then planning on going, but I had so many things to do (some of them enjoyable) that I completely forgot about this event. I’m still young though, so I’m sure I can come to another Festival of Lights in the future.