Impossible Light

A documentary about the Bay Lights is premiering later this month in the NYC area. Created by Burning Man Director – and Disorient founder – Leo Villareal, the $8 million Bay Lights Project is the world’s largest ever electronic art installation.

IMPOSSIBLE LIGHT reveals the drama and the daring of artist Leo Villareal and a small team of visionaries who battle seemingly impossible challenges to turn a dream of creating the world’s largest LED light sculpture into a glimmering reality. 

On March 5th, 2013, San Francisco’s skyline was transformed by an amazing sight: 25,000 LED lights that, for perhaps the first time save the 1989 earthquake, caused people to consider the Bay Bridge instead of her iconic sister. 

How did this happen? Who was behind the eight-million-dollar installation? How in the world did they pull it off? 

The story behind the making of THE BAY LIGHTS—a project whose very “impossibility made it possible”—answers these questions, revealing the drama and the daring of artist Leo Villareal and a small team of visionaries who battle seemingly impossible challenges to turn a dream of creating the world’s largest LED light sculpture into a glimmering realit 

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DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

The Bay Lights is an iconic contemporary art sculpture by internationally renowned artist, Leo Villareal. It features 25,000 LED lights strung along the 1.8 mile Western Span of San Francisco’s Bay Bridge. In 2011, I stumbled into the unbelievable concept of turning an entire region’s traffic workhorse into a stunning, abstract light sculpture that changes an entire city’s skyline every night from dusk ‘til dawn.

I first met Ben Davis, the man with this not-so-simple idea, at a charity event. He was there trying to convince people on the possibility of The Bay Lights. The idea was brand new and no one had yet thought to document such an historic achievement. I basically nudged my way in, begged them to let me bring my camera, and never looked back.

In the beginning, when the installation was still an idea, I couldn’t conceive of how they would do it. That immediately made me interested. On one side, you have paperwork, permits, and all sorts of government agencies with endless red tape. On the other, you have a massive engineering structure meant to provide a very practical service to the region, which is now being viewed as an abstract canvas for contemporary art. And on top of all that, there is the very real need for millions of dollars to appear out of thin air. All kinds of questions immediately entered my mind and suddenly the project just spoke to me; I absolutely had to witness it first-hand.

I started this project because I thought it would be amazing to chronicle the process of turning a crazy idea into a stunningly beautiful reality. Along the way, I grew to appreciate and love the often-overlooked bridge itself. For the past three years I have come to know the Bay Bridge intimately. I have climbed up, crawled under, and hung off the side of this significant structure. I’ve also been busted for breaking a few traffic laws along the way.

IMPOSSIBLE LIGHT explores what we as human beings are capable of when obstacles seem insurmountable. It’s about the human spirit of collaboration and finding a way to make the impossible possible.

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CAST & CREW BIOS

DIRECTOR/ WRITER/PRODUCER/CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/EDITOR

– Jeremy Ambers

Jeremy Ambers is a video editor by trade and a filmmaker by passion. He graduated from SUNY Oswego in 2000 and spent much of his early adult life working for a small production company in midtown Manhattan. In 2009, Jeremy married the love of his life and moved across the country to San Francisco. While trying to build a steady flow of freelance editing work, his wife encouraged him to pursue his lifelong goal of becoming a filmmaker.

In 2011, he bought a Panasonic HVX-200A and a questionable wireless lavelier mic and caught the very early musings of lighting the Bay Bridge by complete coincidence. Jeremy spent three years obsessing over the bridge, Leo Villareal and the iconic sculpture now known as The Bay Lights, capturing its beauty and inspiration. The result of his endless dedication can be seen in his first feature length documentary film: IMPOSSIBLE LIGHT.

 

ARTIST / SUBJECT OF IMPOSSIBLE LIGHT – Leo Villareal 

Leo Villareal received a BA in sculpture from Yale University in 1990, and a graduate degree from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Interactive Telecommunications Program. Recent exhibitions include, a survey show organized by the San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA, which continues to tour several museums in the United States.  

He has completed many site specific works including, Radiant Pathways, Rice University in Houston, Texas; Mulitverse, The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC; Diagonal Grid, Borusan Center for Culture and Arts, Istanbul, Turkey; Stars, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, New York, and the recently installed Hive, for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority at the Bleecker Street subway station in Manhattan. Villareal is a focal point of the James Corner Field Operations design team that will renew Chicago’s Navy Pier, and commissioned installations at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, and The Durst Organization in New York City, will be in visible public spaces.  Villareal’s work is in the permanent collections of many museums including the  Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY;  Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum, Kagawa, Japan;  Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

 

SUBJECT OF IMPOSSIBLE LIGHT – Ben Davis 

Ben Davis is the visionary behind THE BAY LIGHTS and the creator of Pi In The Sky. He is founder and CEO of Illuminate the Arts, the non-profit that aims to alter the arc of human history through the creation of transformative works of public art. He is currently championing major art installations in San Francisco and beyond.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ‘IMPOSSIBLE LIGHT’

Official Website: www.impossiblelightfilm.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/impossiblelight

Twitter: @baylightsfilm #findaway

Upcoming Screenings:

October, 2014

Theatrical Screening Events:

  • AMC Clifton Commons, Clifton, NJ (October 27, 2014)
  • AMC Loews Shore 8, Huntington, NY (October 29, 2014)

November, 2014

SF Urban Film Festival, San Francisco, CA (November 7, 2014)

  • Opening Night Feature-Length Film

November, 2014

Special Screening

  • San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco, CA (November 13, 2014)

November, 2014

Napa Valley Film Festival, St. Helena, CA (November 14, 2014)

 

* For a full list of upcoming screenings, visit www.impossiblelightfilm.com/events

 

 

 

Cool Hunting Interviews Leo Villareal

leo and yvonneLeo Villareal is one of the founders of the Disorient major theme camp. He is also the first Burning Man artist to have an exhibition of their works at a major museum – in 2010, at the San Jose Museum of Art. The Disorient crew sure knows how to throw a party! Michael Slenske at Cool Hunting has just published a great interview with Leo, in which he talks about Burning Man and the Bay Lights – the largest electronic art installation in world history.

From Coolhunting.com:
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Two decades ago, New York-based light sculptor Leo Villareal attended Burning Man (the annual week-long art event in Black Rock City, Nevada, which culminates around a wooden sculpture of a man set on fire) and the experience changed his life. A few years later Villareal returned to the Nevada desert with a 16-strobe light beacon of his own design, which he fixed to the roof of his group’s RV so that they could find their way home. “I was tired of getting lost, so I made my first piece which was sort of just a utilitarian thing to help me stay oriented. But then I thought, ‘Wow, that’s a very powerful combination: software and light,’” recalls Villareal, who brought the work home to NYC, laid a translucent cover over the top and had just produced his first gallery-worthy light sculpture, “Strobe Matrix.”

Villareal spent the next 10 years broadening the scope of his work with increasingly larger, more technically complicated architectural interventions. Many were commissioned as temporary works, and many have ended up being permanent or semi-permanent. To wit: six years after it was installed, the 41,000 LED, three-years-in-the-making “Multiverse” still envelops the 200 foot-long walkway between the east and west buildings of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. The artist’s “Stars” remains in the windows of the Brooklyn Academy of Music years after it was scheduled for de-installation; the Buckminster Fuller-inspired “Buckyball” that lit up NYC’s Madison Square Park in 2012 is currently being shown outside Alice Walton’s Crystal Bridges Museum of Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, where it is now part of the institution’s permanent collection. The 25,000 algorithmically-controlled LED lights that make up “The Bay Lights,” which just marked its one-year anniversary, continues to illuminate the night sky across the Bay Area, and may continue to for another decade or so.

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The latter—likely the most technologically challenging public art installation ever—is also the subject of a new documentary, “Impossible Light.” The film premiered at SXSW and details the project’s numerous challenges: raising $8 million in private funding over two years, overcoming epic industrial, national security and environmental concerns not to mention finding the right people to get behind the project (from local engineers to public art éminence grise Christo, who wrote letters of endorsement on Villareal’s behalf). On the heels of the film’s premiere and the installation’s anniversary, Villareal checked in from D.—where he was taking some time to absorb the ambient glow of “Multiverse”—to talk about his trajectory from Burner to Bay Area icon, what technology means to his work and what’s next.

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So it was just the one-year anniversary of “The Bay Lights.”

Yeah, on 5 March.

If you look back at that strobe light piece you did for Burning Man, could you ever have imagined this kind of trajectory for your work?

Absolutely not. The first year I went to Burning Man was 1994, and I made the strobe piece in ’97. That got me going and then over time I did my first large-scale architectural piece in 2003 at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City, and it just went incrementally from there. But I never thought I’d do anything like “The Bay Lights.” It’s cool what you can do with light.

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Were you ever interested in the pioneers of California’s Light and Space movement? Was that something you were thinking about?

I had an art history background, and my family is from Marfa, Texas, so I certainly knew about Donald Judd and Dan Flavin and [James] Turrell. But I studied sculpture and then I got into technology in the early ’90s and I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to fuse all these new tools I was using into my art-making practice. That’s what happened in ’97 [with “Strobe Matrix”], and I realized this is very powerful and this is what I want to pursue. But I would say it was definitely a combination of the Light and Space guys, plus Burning Man, plus technology being in the right place at the right time over and over.

How has your work evolved as technology has advanced?

Certainly I would not be able to do the work I do without LED technology. Solid-state lighting is remarkable in its robustness and in how energy efficient it is. I’m also very involved in creating my own LED circuit boards and control systems and all the software I use is custom-written. I’m working with my programmers—I only go so deep myself—but at the end of the day I’m using the tools that have been custom-made for me, and then I’m very involved in the sequence-making. But I’m all for innovation and I wish it would go faster. I’m really excited for LEDs that last a million hours instead of just 100,000 hours.

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What’s your process like when creating public installations?

I’m there to capture that 1% of the time when something exciting happens and I can bring that back—something I’ve harvested—and then I can continue to layer and evolve it. It is a very painterly process, it’s very compositional, very similar to the way you’d compose music. There are certain motifs that repeat at different scales at different tempos. There’s background layers and foreground layers and layers that subtract light, so you’re dealing with negative space.

Since “The Bay Lights” went up, have you been inundated with projects of that scale?

It’s been unbelievable. We’ve had over half-a-billion media impressions and that was several months ago. The story went from local to national to international and it’s inspired huge amounts of interest in my work and for doing monumental public art. I think what’s exciting is that with “The Bay Lights,” it’s not only a piece of art 50 million people will see in two years, but it’s also good for the city. It’s bringing in, conservatively, $100 million to San Francisco in restaurants and hotels.

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Are you involved in the campaign to keep “The Bay Lights” running through 2026?

Yes, we just announced that on 5 March. It’s really about the people of San Francisco. They’ve really fallen in love with the artwork and they want it to remain, which is great. But like I said in the film, this is something that needs to come from the public, not the artist saying, ‘My piece has to be permanent or here for [another] 10 years.’ I just feel honored to have had it up for this long. I’m okay with temporary art; that’s how it is on [Burning Man venue] the Playa, you have to let it come and go. But if something can become iconic and part of the city, of course I’m thrilled to participate in that.

When you walk through cities, do you see the possibilities in the architecture?

Definitely. Over the years my ability to create 3D simulations and visualizations has evolved, which is very important in my work and a lot of projects start like that: showing people what it could look like. That’s how “The Bay Lights” started, with a one-minute animation showing people what it could be.

Is there a new space you’d really love to explore?

I want to get out in nature. There’s some test pieces out in spaces in Texas. Places like Marfa, I think would be very exciting to explore. That’s going in a whole other direction.

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Are there any new items on the tech front you’re thinking about the way you might have thought about LEDs years ago?

The control of LEDs used to be very, very expensive. Now you can buy this stuff on a roll from China and, for a couple hundred bucks, you can be sequencing LEDs, which was never possible before. I would like for there to be more really revolutionary innovations in light, but I still think there’s a lot left to do with LED.

What other new projects are you working on at the moment?

I’ve been focusing more on gallery shows and museums. I’m doing some different group shows, one called “The Light Show,” which is traveling to New Zealand and Australia. I’m currently in the Cartagena Biennial. We’re going to be showing “Buckyball” sometime this year; we’re making a scale model of it.

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So this is the indoor version of the outdoor work?

Yeah, it’s about a three-foot diameter sphere on the outside and then another sphere within that. I’m all about making smaller pieces and learning at different scales. I’m just really regrouping. Two-and-a-half years working on the Bay Lights was pretty consuming. I just moved studios and have a new studio out in Brooklyn in Industry City.MakerBot is out there.

Is the new studio helping out with the work?

I can think straight with having enough space. I was in the same studio for 15 years in Chelsea, right in the middle of the art world and that was great but it’s just a lot of noise. Going to a place where I can think and work is very important. That’s what the new studio is about. For me it’s really about assessing where I’m at and figuring out the next moves. But it’s definitely an exciting time.

“Buckyball” images courtesy of Leo Villareal Studio, “The Bay Lights” images and “Double Scramble” image courtesy of James Ewing, “Impossible Light” images courtesy of Jeremy Ambers

California Gleaming: World’s Biggest Light Art to Stay

bay lights romanceA year ago, Burning Man Project director, Disorient founder and blinky light impresario Leo Villareal revealed the largest commission in the history of electronic art: $8 million to install 25,000 LED lights on the north-facing San Francisco span of the Bay Bridge. Some have called the 1.8 mile, 26 football fields long Bay Lights the largest sculpture in the history of humanity – while it’s certainly bigger than the Sphinx, I find this claim a bit of a stretch. The end result is amazing, for the best view of all get the ferry to the main ferry building just as the sun is setting.

The Bay Lights has been very popular since its debut, and was a notable feature of the city during the America’s Cup competition. WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg stepped up at the last minute to enable the project, adding to his initial $100,000 donation with a whopping $1.5 million contribution.

BayLightsLeo’s programming incorporated years of historical data related to the bridge:

Leo Villareal, a New Yorker who used to live in Silicon Valley, said he was inspired by the energy of the waves, tides, fog, wind, fish, boats on the bay, and the cars and trucks. “It’s very open-ended, and people have very personal reactions to it”

More recently, some of the lights started to go out:

In May, Ben Davis and his team noticed strands of the lights were staying on, while others were shutting off.

The problem seemed to be spreading, with 30-percent of the lights malfunctioning in some areas, marring artist Leo Villareal’s vast moving display.

Technicians walked the bridge, inspecting the strands of lights strapped to the cables, suspecting the wind, salt air and constant vibrations as the culprits.

“In taking in what was going on they figured out there’s a little bit of water was seeping in due to that harsh environment,” said Davis. “That was just enough to cause those problems.”

With the lights failing at a rapid pace, Davis pondered the worst-case scenario; turning off the lights and taking them down.

But instead, his team rallied.

Artist Leo Villareal reprogrammed the lights to work around the malfunctioning strands.

And light manufacturer Philips Color Kinetics agreed to finance repair and replacement of the lights as well as figure out a long-term solution.

“They’ve come in, they’ve helped us assess the problem,” said Davis. “They’ve owned the problem and the solution and they’re being completely responsible.”

The response from the community to the Bay Lights has been very positive, boosting business and tourism. From ABC Local:

bay lights how it works“It’s been overwhelming,” said Bay Lights artist Leo Villareal. “We’ve had 25 million people have seen the Bay Lights over the last year and it’s just an extraordinary response.”

Artist Leo Villareal designed the computer-driven strands of LEDs that paint flowing patterns in the night sky and bring crowds to waterfront restaurants.

“People come in earlier and stay later in order to be able to enjoy the lights on the bridge,” said Pete Sittnick with Waterbar and Epic Roasthouse.

Even hotels are getting a boost.

“Our top three floors, we’ve branded and marketed as Bay Lights rooms,” said Kory Stewart with Hotel Vitale and Americano Restaurant. “And we’ve seen a 20 percent increase in those bookings. It’s really become kind of a centerpiece of the neighborhood.”

A centerpiece with an expiration date.

“This piece was installed with a two year lifespan in mind,” Villareal said.

When Caltrans repaints the bridge in 2015, the lights will come down. But maybe not forever.

“The thought now is people really want the Bay Lights to remain for another 10 years, so we’re embarking on that effort,” Villareal said.

Rebuilding the lights as a permanent installation will cost $12 million. It’s money they’ll have to raise privately and bit by bit.

Caltrans needs to take the lights down to paint the bridge. The plan is to get them back up and running in time for San Francisco to host the Superbowl in 2015, and install more hardy lights with a longer life span.

one of the Bay Lights modules, with a sample of the cable it will be attached to. 3d Printing has been used in the prototyping

one of the Bay Lights modules, with a sample of the cable it will be attached to. 3d Printing has been used in the prototyping

Caltrans says the lights must be removed in March 2015, the end of the two years, so crews can paint the bridge for routine maintenance. And leaders of the Bay Lights project say they will raise $12 million and get the necessary government permits for a second, longer act. 

“Bay Lights has raised the bar worldwide on what can be accomplished with art in large public places,” said Ben Davis, a board member with Illuminate the Arts, the nonprofit doing the project. “It has shown that a project can be done on this scale and bring the community together.”

From Bay City News:

Illuminate the Arts raised $8.7 million to turn on the display in 2013 and keep it lit until March 2015.

At Thursday’s anniversary event, Davis said the organization is kicking off a new fundraising campaign.

First, the group wants to ensure the lights stay on until 2016 after a brief scheduled shutdown next year for Caltrans to perform required maintenance.

He said the installation has to come down then for crews to make sure there is no rust and for paint touch-ups.

Once the show is back up and running, Illuminate the Arts is pushing to raise $12 million to keep the lights shining until 2026, Davis said.

“The idea of not having it there is almost distressing,” he said.

The project extension still needs to be approved by Caltrans, according to the Times Herald:

Villareal said he is confident the project will win another 10 years because of the experience gained in planning, funding and securing permits the first time around.

“It took an enormous amount of planning,” he said. “Yes. I think it will be easier this time.”

Caltrans and other agencies with jurisdiction over the bay and the Bay Bridge must approve permits to put back the sculpture. Caltrans officials had no immediate response on the new plan.

 Davis said the wiring system can be put back in 2016, although newer and tougher LED bulbs will be installed to withstand the harsh bay weather…He said his group plans to have the light sculpture back in action in early 2016 when the Bay Area will host the 50th Superbowl at the 49ers’ new Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

The lights consume $30,000 of electricity per year, which is offset by solar panels at UC Davis.