The Dumbo Projection Project returns for its seventh volume from May 1 to May 31, bringing a month-long, neighborhood-wide video art exhibit to the Manhattan Bridge and BQE wall in Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Steward Park. Presented by Team Dumbo, the series will run Wednesdays-Sundays from dusk to 11 p.m.
Now in its third year, the project has grown into a neighborhood fixture. This year’s theme, “Dumbo: Past, Present & Future,” invites viewers to engage as participants, rather than spectators.
In a series-first, every installation in Volume Seven is interactive.
Among the featured works is “SubWave,” created by Ryan Webber, Gwen Goins and Rafia Santana. Drawing from the rhythms of the East River, it includes “waves synchronized with the passing subway rise and recede, briefly revealing forgotten histories along the shoreline.”
In Justina-Maria Soto, Ceren Eskicirak, Summer Hwang and Ivan Abogado’s “Have You Eaten Yet,” food and care take center stage. This video projection is “inspired by a simple question often asked by loved ones.”
In “Shadow Theater,” artists Haoren Zhong, Ivy Jiang and Zongshuai Zhang transform viewers’ smartphones into viewing tools. Through phone flashlights, audiences can examine parts of a teddy bear’s journey, with each participant revealing new layers of the story in real time.
“Behind the Bricks,” by Michael Culleton, Jaye Du, William Yao and Seungmin Yeon, is another interactive installation. Participants digitally “chip away” at the brick wall to uncover video stories told by rats.
All four works will loop continuously at both projection sites throughout the month.
The installations were developed in collaboration with Professor Gabriel Barcia-Colombo and graduate students from New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, a two-year program at the Tisch School of the Arts focused on innovative uses of technology in storytelling and communication.
“It’s been fascinating to see our V7 artists create work that responds to and plays with Dumbo’s iconic spaces–a giant bridge with the subway running overhead, the BQE with trucks lumbering overhead, and pick up soccer games below,” Clara Schuhmacher, senior vice president of the Dumbo BID, said. “And in an exciting evolution for the Dumbo Projection Project, this show is interactive, inviting each of us to connect with our public spaces in novel ways.”
City officials say the project highlights the potential of public infrastructure as a platform for art and engagement.
“When we activate our infrastructure with interactive artworks, we create a canvas for creativity that brings New York City’s past, present, and future vividly to life,” NYC DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn said. “We thank the Dumbo BID and the talented student artists for bringing the Dumbo Projection Project to life and engaging New Yorkers in new ways.”
The exhibition will also be a featured stop on the First Thursday Gallery Walk Insider Tour on May 7, offering visitors a guided introduction to the works and the neighborhood’s broader arts scene.
