Quantcast

In rumbling color: Gowanus subway tracks backdrop of light show

In rumbling color: Gowanus subway tracks backdrop of light show
Photo by Stefano Giovannini

A Gowanus art group is lighting up the elevated F and G tracks along Ninth Street.

The light show, which has been happening nightly since Jan. 12, is meant to transform the hulking metal structure into a living thing, according to one of its masterminds.

“With everything we do the goal is to uplift and transform perspective,” said George DelBarrio, of the Vanderbilt Republic, a Gowanus artist group.

The project, which DelBarrio called a “photographic monument,” is a collaboration between DelBarrio’s group and Colin Bowring, an artist from San Francisco.

The Vanderbilt Republic has lit up the neighborhood before. In June, as the beloved Kentile Floors sign was in the process of being dismantled, the crew projected a light show on the remainder of the sign, using its scaffolding as a canvas.

The current installation is a departure from the group’s previous projections, which came from a computer. DelBarrio said he wanted to explore what he and his collaborators could create by using nothing more than theater lights and plastic filters.

“I’m among the last people trained to use a darkroom in photography, and I’m still in love with what you can discover by working outside of the digital work-form,” he said.

“Spectrum II” outside the Vanderbilt Republic (Ninth Street between Second Avenue and the Gowanus Canal, www.vande‌rbilt‌repub‌lic.com). After dark, Jan. 22 and Jan. 23.

Reach reporter Noah Hurowitz at nhuro‌witz@‌cnglo‌cal.com or by calling (718) 260–4505. Follow him on Twitter @noahhurowitz
Artists at work: San Francisco artist Colin Bowring, right, and George DelBarrio of the Vanderbilt Republic operate a projector from the agency’s loft in Gowanus.
Photo by Stefano Giovannini