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San Francisco’s ambitious 25,000-LED light show set for Bay Bridge in March

Trevor Mogg
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Work is continuing in San Francisco on the city’s ambitious Bay Lights project, the work of internationally renowned artist Leo Villareal. Using the Bay Bridge West Span as its frame, the five-hundred-feet high and 1.8-mile-wide installation will comprise more than 25,000 LED lights, making it the world’s largest ever light sculpture.

The energy-efficient LED lights are being added and tested in stages, with engineers currently on course to have the piece ready in time for its planned switch-on date of March 5. The installation will light up the Bay Area for two years, with an estimated 50 million people expected to view the display in that time.

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Described by the project organizers as a “pioneer in the use of LEDs and computer-driven imagery”, New York-based Villareal started out as a sculptor, saying in an interview that despite becoming interested in technology in the early 90s, it took him many years to discover it was light that he wanted to use as the main focus of his work.

Villareal promised something special with his Bay Lights installation, saying that many bridges have been illuminated over the years, “but never quite like this.”

“We’re adding a grid of light to the suspension cables of the bridge, so we’re going to be adding just over 25,000 white LED nodes placed every foot, vertically,” he explained. “Each single pixel is controllable but working as a group to create an overall effect.”

According to the project’s webpage, “patterns of weather, the water and the traffic of cars, ships and wildlife” will all be used as inspiration for creating Villareal’s software algorithms, ensuring that each light pattern is unique and never repeated.

“People’s perception of what the piece is will be highly subjective, no two people may see the same thing,” the artist said. “But there’ll still be this point of connection between many, many people.”

Villarael said he hopes that the “monumental” piece of public art will inspire artists in the Bay Area, while local businesses will no doubt be hoping the project will fulfill its promise to add around $97 million to the local economy.

[via Dvice] [Image: viphotos / Shutterstock]

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San Francisco’s Bay Bridge is about to be lit up in a grand art-tech extravaganza that’s sure to send more than a few drivers on the bridge veering across a couple of lanes in WTF?!? surprise when the big switch-on takes place Tuesday night.
Over 25,000 LED lights have been painstakingly installed on the Bay Bridge’s five-hundred-feet high and 1.8-mile-wide western span, with the switch-on ceremony scheduled for 9pm this evening.
The Bay Lights installation – the work of internationally renowned artist Leo Villareal – will stay in place for the next two years, bathing the structure in constantly changing patterns of light.

The project’s webpage explains that “patterns of weather, the water and the traffic of cars, ships and wildlife” will all be used as inspiration for creating Villareal’s software algorithms linked to the installation, resulting in unique, never-repeated light patterns.
“People’s perception of what the piece is will be highly subjective, no two people may see the same thing,” Villareal said. “But there’ll still be this point of connection between many, many people.”
The artist behind the world’s largest ever light sculpture has been described by the project organizers as a “pioneer in the use of LEDs and computer-driven imagery”. Villareal said that after beginning his career as a sculptor, he became interested in technology around 20 years ago before deciding to use light as the main element of his creations.
The light display comes just after the Bay Bridge’s 75th anniversary, with Villareal hoping the record-breaking piece of public art will serve to inspire artists located in the Bay Area. Local businesses should benefit too, with the display’s organizers estimating that interest in the installation – which is expected to be viewed by as many as 50 million people over the next two years – will help to add some $97 million to the local economy.
A live webcast of Tuesday evening’s light-up can be viewed here from 8.30pm, while a nightly stream of the LED display will begin Wednesday. For those who can’t wait till tonight, below is a video giving you an idea of what you can expect to see with Villareal’s ambitious project.

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