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Imagine a Philadelphia littered not with rubbish, but with light.
Sean Stoops, a quasi-resident of 12th and Mifflin streets,, hopes to make that imagining a reality. A finalist for the Knight Arts Challenge, he has plans for a nighttime festival featuring video art lighting up some of Philly’s forgotten buildings.
A trained painter, Stoops now works as an art curator and handler, and holds a residency position in new media arts with the Transart Institute in Austria. Stoops lives in Philly most of the year, but spends a month in Austria during the summer.
He recently organized a video presentation, “Murals Set in Motion,” at International House at the University of Pennsylvania, in association with the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program and InLiquid, a nonprofit for members of the visual art and design community. Showcasing time-lapsed videos of mural artists at work, including Stoops’ collaborative works “Muralmorphosis” and “Cosmic Terrarium,” the presentation heralds the work of muralists transforming crumbling buildings and drab spaces into psychedelic masterpieces.
Drawing inspiration from the colorful murals, Stoops wants to create similar patterns on Philly’s most public buildings. With the help of high-intensity video projectors, Stoops and his yet-to-be-crew of local visual artists and video installers would craft 3-D skins over the buildings, creating a new surface that’s just light.
“I want to challenge how Philadelphia views contemporary public art, with outdoor video art in relation to architecture as the main focus,” Stoops said.
Light pollution, location and technology pose difficulties, though.
“I want to feature the video art on buildings that don’t get noticed as much, or that were landmarks in their own time,” he said.
Stoops said he was considering South Philly residential areas as building sites as well as the Fairmount Water Works building.
To carry out the project, Stoops and his crew would need to create digital models of the sides of chosen buildings, and edit graphs to fit the models. On-site, multiple projectors would sync to create a 3-D effect. Some projectors would be situated inside adjacent buildings, focusing on windows of the themed buildings. Sound effects would enhance the dramatic experience. The themes depicted on the buildings would depend on the sites themselves, including their history and architecture.
Such light festivals are a hit in Europe, and with the richness of Philly’s history, Stoops hopes that the trend will pick up here and serve to highlight the beauty and history of America’s treasured cities.
Stoops hopes to light up Philly spectacularly, no matter the outcome of the Knight Arts Challenge.
“I would be honored to receive the grant, but even without it, I still plan to do something along the same lines as the festival, but on a much smaller scale,” he said.
Other finalists:
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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