I was back at Wilkes University’s campus a week ago for one of their evening community events, SOMA Night Lights, which was heralded as a “celebration of art and technology.” The main attraction of the evening was a series of projection art displays, where digital projectors were mapped to precisely match various campus and city buildings, which then served as canvass for a range of digital art.
Regrettably, I missed the projection display; a band of heavy showers moved through just prior to the event, forcing the team to wrap their electronics and projectors in tarps, and delaying the projection until it was safe to expose them again.
But I was able to enjoy some of the other aspects: the tail-end of a fire dancer performance, community graffiti of a derelict car, and an appearance by the “Rusty Iris,” a modified bus that frequents Burning Man. The atmosphere was decidedly trippy: thumping German techo music from the Rusty Iris DJ mixed with shifting neon lights and bursts of flame, while the visitors were thrown into silhouettes, many holding umbrellas. It was all a bit surreal – and no doubt accentuated by the thick paint fumes from the graffiti station!