Exhibiting large-scale public art in the age of coronavirus has some challenges, but that didn’t deter organizers of the Borealis Festival of Light from illuminating the façade of Seattle’s Asian Art Museum last night in an eerily-empty park. Their message of hope and solidarity from artists around the world was livestreamed to viewers who are staying at home during the crisis.
The campaign is called One World. One Heart. and is a collaboration with the iMapp festival out of Bucharest, Romania. Combining works of art from 46 artists around the world, the video projection art was projected on buildings in 11 different cities around the world including Bucharest, Budapest, Monterrey and Seattle.
“Hang in there. We’re going to pull through this, and there are going to be better days ahead,” said Terry Morgan, organizer of the Seattle Borealis festival of light. “The online thing is going to be our reality for awhile. We hope to be creating some new territory for what can be done other than just music online.”
The location was kept under wraps in advance to avoid the possibility of large crowds gathering. There were a handful of people there associated with the event, plus a few others who happened upon the scene during late-night walks in the park.
Borealis hosted a widely-attended light and video art installation at Seattle’s Lake Union Park in 2018. The next Borealis festival in Seattle is scheduled for October 2020, depending on how the coronavirus situation progresses.
