Georgetown will light up this winter with nine public art installations

From interactive pathways to neon sculptures, see what will make this neighborhood glow

By Michelle Goldchain@goldchainam Nov 27, 2017, 11:18am EST

“Open Lounge,” created by Géraud Périole in collaboration with Light Art Collection and Amsterdam Light Festival.

Starting December 8, Georgetown’s fourth annual GLOW exhibition will commence, lighting the neighborhood up with a variety of public art installations, including neon sculptures and projected videos.

The artists featured this year range far and wide, from D.C.’s Robin Bell (whose works have been seen on the Trump International Hotel) to Lebanon’s Alaa Minawi to India’s Vikas Patil and Santosh Gujar.

Presented by the Georgetown Business Improvement District, the free outdoor light art exhibition will run through January 7, 2018. The works will be lit from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. nightly.

For a look at previous year’s installations, head to the official Georgetown GLOW website here. The exhibition also offers a series of events, including a silent disco on December 9, carolers and free pedicab rides on December 14, and Santa Claus on December 16.

Below, get a look at what to expect from this year’s installations.

Horizontal Interference

Joachim Slugocki and Katarzyna Malejka

The project statement: “Horizontal Interference is formed by a colorful cord structure which connects trees and light poles in a simple manner. The extraordinary architecture of wires, which in itself is beautiful at daylight, turns into a spectacular beauty at nightfall. The stretched UV tape soaks up the night. Using existing architecture, this brings a renewed sense of our surroundings.”

Washington Harbour (300 K Street NW)

Aqueous

Jen Lewin

The project statement: “Aqueous in an interactive, walkable landscape of meandering pathways of light. During the day, the dichroic surface of Aqueous mirrors the sky and the surrounding physical landscape. By night, Aqueous will glow in full illuminated interactivity, engaging large groups in collaborative play.”

Georgetown Waterfront Park (Near Wisconsin Avenue NW and K Street NW)

My Light Is Your Light

Alaa Minawi in collaboration with Light Art Collection and Amsterdam Light Festival

The project statement: “My Light is Your Light is a sculpture made of neon for the displaced in a city known for being welcoming and tolerant. The group sculpture exudes sadness, the figures’ heads bent and shoulders hunched over. But there is also an unmistaken optimism and borderless confidence in the future about them. The optimism is displayed in the youngest child who stands upright while the others are bent over.”

Grace Church (1041 Wisconsin Avenue NW)

Light Cloud

Ted Bazydlo and Brandon Newcomer

The project statement: “Light Cloud is a digitally fabricated dynamic sculpture, responding to the surrounding environment and local activity. During inactive periods, the luminous body remains in stasis, displaying a glow of white ambient light. As people gather within the space, the sculpture activates, causing a reaction of variable lighting perceivable to those nearby.”

Hok Courtyard (3223 Grace Street NW)

Bands of Friendship

Vikas Patil and Santosh Gujar in collaboration with Light Art Collection and Amsterdam Light Festival

The project statement: “Bands of Friendship symbolizes endless friendship, and has been positioned in such a way that visitors may look at the bands from different angles with changing meanings from every perspective. The nine rings—inspired by Indian color schematics—constantly change their color scheme.”

Dean & Deluca and Georgetown Park Plaza (3276 M Street NW)

Open Lounge

Géraud Périole in collaboration with Light Art Collection and Amsterdam Light Festival

The project statement: “Open Lounge is like magic; this piece allows us to imagine we are in the ballroom of a palace, with the starry sky as our ceiling. Each of the 20 chandeliers is handcrafted and made of acrylic, plastic and rope.”

Cady’s Alley (Near 33rd and M streets NW)

Quayola, Casey Reas, & Sara Ludy

LSM Architects

The project statement: “LSM is presenting three artists’ video works as projections through their atrium—Strata by Londonbased Quayola; Still Life by L.A.-based Casey Reas; and Rainbow Glass by California-based Sara Ludy. Original masterpieces and collections become raw canvas in Quayola’s work, as he anchors a video-based exploration in a conversation about archives, collage, intellectual property and the appreciation of an object. In Still Life, each work is a simulated "still life": a composition deconstructing a Platonic solid, composed of and presented as information. Rainbow Glass is a seamlessly looped video created with a reflective and translucent aesthetic quality that refers to stained glass. It is a part of the series Glass which primarily explores surface and architecture, touching on depth, project, and landscape, themes from Ludy's recent series Clouds.”

3333 M Street NW

Glow Structural Remix

Robin Bell

The project statement: “Robin Bell's 15-minute looped video is based on the colors of winter and the dynamism of GLOW 2017 installations. The site-specific projection will interact with the building and—through design—harken the activities of this once bustling theater through historic imagery. The artwork will thread colors and shapes throughout to reflect the bright and warm energy that is found in Georgetown during the holidays.”

Old Georgetown Theater (1351 Wisconsin Avenue NW)

The Neighbors

Ombrélumen, Shanghai, and Houston

The project statement: “The Neighbors is an installation that consists of four figures made of LED bent wires, which is creating a clan of glowing people along Wisconsin Avenue. It is an homage to the connectivity that is part of the fiber of Georgetown through the lens of contemporary light art. The Neighborsis the result of a spontaneous calligraphic brushstroke; a long, simple stroke that, in its totality, portrays people. The figures do not have a predetermined identity. They are your neighbors, your friends. The figures can be anyone the viewer wants them to be, and that is what makes them even more attractive and relatable. Everyone is connected to them. They are the medium upon which people can project and experiment with their own identities.”

Book Hill (Along Wisconsin Avenue from P Street NW to Reservoir Road NW)