Ecstatic City Tampa
Permanent Public Sculpture & Temporary Installation
2009
Commissioned by the City of Tampa, for Lights on Tampa, 2009
Ecstatic City (Tampa) sets out to animate a district of a city, in this case, Tampa, Florida. The project has two components, one permanent and one temporary. The soaring entry to the Tampa Convention Center provides the site for the permanent part of the project. Rotating mirror balls, each with its own spotlight, and installed 65 feet in the air are activated daily at dusk.
The temporary component of the project, part of the Lights On Tampa biennial festival, consisted of fifty rotating mirror balls attached to the palm trees that surround the vast Convention Center. Brackets supporting the balls, as well as integrated spotlights were attached to the trees. Beginning at dusk, this well traveled pedestrian area of the city was bathed in a gentle wash of spinning light. By taking a conventional, off-the-shelf object typically used in the disco and re-contextualizing it in the city, I wanted to amplify the atmosphere, the mood of expectation and the sense of possibility that is so important to the life and energy of a city.
Ecstatic City Tampa, View of the permanent installation. All photos by Charlie Samuels.
Ecstatic City Tampa from chris doyle on Vimeo.
Ecstatic City Tampa, Permanent installation view
Ecstatic City Tampa, Permanent installation views
Ecstatic City Tampa, Permanent installation, daytime view
Temporary installation view
Temporary installation view Installing the temporary project