Ballroom Luminoso
![](/sites/all/themes/arts_zen/images/favorites_icon.png)
PROJECT OVERVIEW
![](https://www.americansforthearts.org/sites/default/files/styles/rectanble_280x220/public/14_OConnell_BallroomLuminoso_01_0.jpg?itok=qyuNH11B)
http://jbpublicart.com
Ballroom Luminoso transforms an ordinary underpass into a community shadow theater. A series of six brilliantly lit, color-changing chandeliers hang from the underpass and each casts bright shapes and colored shadows. The chandeliers are made from recycled bike parts and other metals with LED lights used to allow for creative expression with minimal maintenance. This project was selected as part of the 2012-2017 Bond Public Art Plan to enhance the connectivity of the neighborhoods surrounding the area and illuminate this otherwise somber and overlooked underpass. A call for proposals was issued in December 2012 to provide ideas for a public art installation that incorporates a lighting element and offers an innovative solution for the use of this space as a neighborhood destination. This underpass is heavily used by the nearby high school students as a transitory space from their daily treks back and forth from home to school. The area, already challenged by the darkness and uninviting aspect of the concrete infrastructure, had to be transformed within 6 months to a community-friendly space that would help unify and strengthen the identity of the nearby neighborhoods. Given the time and budgetary restrictions, the artists looked into incorporating readily available recycled bike parts and other metals as a solution for their source of materials, also honoring the burgeoning local cycling culture and the city’s dedication to the environment. They also chose to incorporate LED fixtures that would allow for creative expression, by creating the intricate shadow patterns, with minimal maintenance and energy consumption. By using these shadow patterns as their medium, the artists have painted the concrete infrastructure with minimal environmental impact and at the same time given a dramatic and positive presence to this space in the community. This display of light and shadow then becomes the stage/background to performances and community gatherings