Monday, June 25, 2012

New Downtown San Jose Project: Illuminating Downtown

San Jose has received a $600k grant from ArtPlace--a national organization that funds art projects--in order to build something that could potentially be incredibly cool. The project is called Illuminating Downtown and the goal is to light up parts of Downtown using art and technology. The initial focus areas will include SoFA, San Pedro Square, and Santa Clara St. & 87. The first project will be on Santa Clara St. and is expected to be installed by Winter 2013. If any of these projects will be in similar scale to The 88's interactive light feature, they can't come soon enough.

If anyone has additional info on this, please post in the comments. Thanks!

Source: SJBJ

7 comments:

  1. They should rebuild the light tower that used to exist at the intersection of market and Santa Clara. Do a modern version.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah. It couldn't be too tall or be blasting light all over the place like the original (right under the approach path to SJC, after all) but, yeah, a modern version that would enhance our street life and be unique to San José. Well said, SanJoe.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The city of San Jose should never receive money for art projects. The giant turd statue in the park, phallic shaped objects, and other hideous sculptures should provide evidence enough.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The artist selected for the Santa Clara St installation (under the 87 overpass) is Dan Corson. His previous work can be seen here: http://dancorson.com/category/public-art

    They plan to redo a light tower as well: "'But what we want to do,' Goldstein said, 'is a 21st century version of the light tower that expresses the tech of today.'"

    http://www.mercurynews.com/los-gatos/ci_20848245/pizarro-downtown-san-jose-get-some-artistic-lighting

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That would be phenomenal, there are so many things that could be done with this concept. If done right, this will be the icon representing San Jose.

      Delete
    2. That's the key -- "if done right..."

      Delete