Every great city has a skyline. Most great cities also have works of art that can't be found anywhere else. But it takes a special city to do both at the same time. This summer, electric company
PECO and tech-artist collective
Breadboard began a program entitled
"Art In The Air" to promote the burgeoning digital arts scene in Philadelphia by bringing works of art to the storied crown lights display atop PECO's 23rd and Market St. headquarters. A new group of submissions hits the skyline every First Friday.
"The vanguard of where digital art is going, I don't think there is a lot going on in the city right now," says Breadboard Director Dan Schimmel. "We saw this as an opportunity to pursue our mission which is art and technology and certainly PECO's light tower, when it was put up was the forefront of technology. So we wanted to give Philadelphia artists the chance to showcase their work on this large-scale format."
Installed as a public service for their customers, PECO activated the crown lights display on July 4, 1976 to celebrate the bicentennial. Since then, the display has shown over 17,500 messages for non-profit and community organizations. On July 4 2009, PECO upgraded the display to energy efficient LED lights. And 34 years to the day after the display first lit up the sky, PECO added yet another jewel to their crown, displaying three new artists to the world on July 4th 2010. The project continues throughout the year and will continue promoting the work of this already growing medium.
"In terms of public digital art, there is limited opportunities for that," says Schimmel. "We were able to use the crown lights in a way they were not being used before and I think that has opened up some opportunities to work with other companies to display some of these works in the future."
Source: Dan Schimmel
Writer: John Steele