Erwin Redl’s “Whiteout” lights up the night in Madison Square Park (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Mad. Sq. Art
Madison Square Park Oval Lawn
Through March 25, free
www.madisonsquarepark.org
www.paramedia.net
Austrian native and SVA grad Erwin Redl writes in his artist statement, “Since 1997, I have investigated the process of ‘reverse engineering’ by (re-)translating the abstract aesthetic language of virtual reality and 3‑D computer modeling back into architectural environments by means of large-scale light installations. In this body of work, space is experienced as a second skin, our social skin, which is transformed through my artistic intervention. Due to the very nature of its architectural dimension, participating by simply being ‘present’ is an integral part of the installations. Visual perception works in conjunction with corporeal motion, and the subsequent passage of time.” Which is a rather complex way of saying he makes really cool things with light. Redl, who lives and works in New York City and Bowling Green, Ohio, is responsible for “Whiteout,” a dazzling kinetic light display continuing in Madison Square Park through March 25.
The site-specific commissioned piece features nine hundred programmed white LED spheres that dangle in long rows from a grid of steel poles. Redl, whose other public art projects include “Seeing Spartanburg in a New Light” in South Carolina and “Saw Mill River Suspension” under the Van der Donck Park Bridge in Yonkers, is inspired by such artists as Robert Irwin, James Turrell, Doug Wheeler, and Fred Sandback. “I am intrigued by the park’s option of a large-scale installation that blurs the border between the virtual and the real,” he said in a statement. “The physicality of the swaying orbs in conjunction with the abstract animations of their embedded white lights allows the public to explore a new, hybrid reality in this urban setting.” The transparent white orbs hover just above the grass of the Oval Lawn, turning on and off in complex algorithms, moving with the wind like a silent dance in ever-shifting wave patterns. Redl has documented the development and installation of “Whiteout” and followed it through the fall and winter; you can see photos and videos here.