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September 14, 2003
Light Cycle
In celebration of Central Park's 150th Birthday, Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang has teamed up with Fireworks by Grucci to produce Light Cycle.
At 7:45pm tomorrow, more than 10,000 fireworks will be set off, creating a 1,000-foot-high, 850-foot-diameter halo over the reservoir in Central Park.
Says Nature Online:
Cai Guo-Qiang's light rings are an attempt to represent the park's timelessness, with "amulets over the heart of Manhattan". They will be the biggest and most public test of the pyrotechnic pixels, which were tested publicly for the first time in June 2002 when the artist and firework team created a 150-metre rainbow across the city's East River.
In the first stage of the three-act Light Cycle, five pillars of light, each 180 metres tall, will spout into the sky. During the finale, around 700 shells containing pure magnesium, which burns like signal flares, will burst simultaneously and float down to illuminate the park.
Even cooler is that these are a new type of fireworks operated by microchips. Instead of a fuse, each pyrotechnic burst has a microchip programmed to ignite at a precise moment, much like the pixels of a digital image.
Callalillie is going to try her best to get to her roof by 7pm to catch the light. Hopefully people will get a chance to photoblog this event, as it seems like it will be fantastic. Hopefully the weather will clear up a little.
Posted by callalillie at September 14, 2003 10:31 AM | Visual Musings
so we'll be able to see it from brooklyn, provided we have a high enough vantage? my friend lives in williamsburg right on the river. will we be able to see it there? that'd be cool.
Posted by: Jimmy Legs at September 14, 2003 11:46 PM
great fireworks.... I have no idea who scott renna is
Posted by: Jason at September 15, 2003 3:53 AM
Hmm. Now that you mention it, I'm not sure. I guess South Brooklyn is kind of far from Central Park. LIC would probably be the best location to watch from...drat. I wish I could make it to Central Park to see it.
Posted by: callalillie at September 15, 2003 8:22 AM
Too bad it was terribly overcast, the explsions were not high enough to see very well (certainly did not look like a 1,000-foot ring) and it was pouring rain. All-in-all quite a disappointment. Nontheless, the city should continue to sponsor/encourage events like this.
Posted by: fundog5 at September 16, 2003 11:25 AM
Yea, I'm really glad that I didn't head back into Manhattan last night. Two minutes after I walked in the door it poured. Alaina has some interesting photos from the event, though.
Posted by: callalillie at September 16, 2003 11:58 AM
Written by my friend Kevin, as his account of the festivities.
Dogs barked, babies cried, and thousands of people got wet during a rainy
Monday evening in Central Park. The dogs, babies, and people were
attempting to watch a fireworky-performance-art extravaganza celebrating
Central Park's 150th anniversary.
The whopping 4 minute performance would have been better viewed on a chi
chi CPW apartment balcony, but no matter. Skutchie and I ate wet pizza while
taking refuge under a tree near the sheeps meadow, and used the box over
our heads as an umbrella, while wet and probably disappointed people walked
by. We had fun though, and later
Skutchie and I put the FUN back in fundraiser, where a wet Skutchie blew air
kisses and talked pageantry, and a wet Kevin chit-chatted ornamentally.
Added by Skutchie ---
For those interested (CHEESEBUS), the FUNdraiser was for Gender Public Advocacy Coalition, gpac.org. Of course, Kevin didn't know what it was for, just I was his cute ornament to take with him. I have never taken that role, I kind of like it.
Posted by: Skutchie at September 16, 2003 3:32 PM
