Luminous Bodies Bring Holiday Sparkle
Published on December 08, 2020
Illuminating A Major Gateway into Arlington At Key Bridge: Cliff Garten’s Luminous Bodies ever-changing LED lit sculptures brightens Rosslyn’s streetscape this holiday season
Arlington, Virginia –The four towering 26-foot-tall sculptures enhanced with changing LED lights bring holiday sparkle to Rosslyn, Arlington VA. LUMINOUS BODIES by Cliff Garten signifies a major milestone in the completion of the Corridor of Light, a three-phase, multiyear effort to create a vibrant gateway for Rosslyn’s central corridor. The holiday season offers the public an opportunity to safely enjoy a light show either on-foot or from their vehicles.
Located at the Esplanade Bridge, North Lynn Street and Lee Highway in Arlington, Virginia (above I-66 and adjoining the approach to Key Bridge), these beautifully lit monumental sculptures mark a major entrance into Arlington from Washington D.C. The four 26-foot-tall sculptures consist of formed stainless steel rods intersecting to define exterior surfaces and interior volumes. Each of the four sculptures are enhanced with changing LED lights. On the underside of the dome of each structure, passersby’s see splashes of light that the stainless steel rods fracture into a multitude of visual effects.
The sculptures were installed this spring, coinciding with the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and initially programmed with a blue light program honoring essential workers on the frontlines of the pandemic. The artist recently completed the permanent lighting, a dynamic and varied program which draws all four corners of the bridge into dialogue with one another. The 45 minute long show cycles continuously, with all four sculptures turning white in between, beginning two hours before dusk and ending at 2AM.
Pedestrians especially will notice an enhanced design for the fencing along the length of the east side of the new bridge which was also developed by artist Cliff Garten to complement the Luminous Bodies sculptures. Garten, Director of Cliff Garten Studio, is an advocate for transforming the often generic quality of urban infrastructure into something that is beautiful and provides a positive impact on American cities. Garten has been an important voice in public art, advocating for what he calls “the expressive potential of infrastructure.” Garten is enthusiastic how his sculpture creates strong social and aesthetic identities for civic places, as well as large civic infrastructure systems and their forms.
Luminous Bodies are funded by private development public art fund contributions from B. F. Saul Company & Affiliates, JBG SMITH, and 1881 Rosslyn Associates, LLC.
The sculptures extend the vocabulary of stone and bronze monuments that bookend Rosslyn into Illuminating A Major Gateway into Arlington At Key Bridge: Cliff Garten’s Luminous Bodies ever-changing LED lit sculptures brightens Rosslyn’s streetscape this holiday season transparent stainless steel structures filled with sunlight during the day and colored LED light at night. They respond to the formal context of the nation’s capital, while suggesting a more contemporary monumentality.
Frederick J. Lindstrom, Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, commended Arlington’s effort towards an enhanced urban vision. “These gleaming monumental sculptures provide a welcome entryway into the area and undoubtedly add a vibrant dynamic to the streetscape, both day and night, for the enjoyment of everyone that lives in, works in, and visits Rosslyn. Arlington County’s excellent public art program and its partners, collaborators, and supporters should all be congratulated on their commitment to this multi-year effort, and to their quest to enhance their urban environment with such high-quality public art. Luminous Bodies is an excellent example of that commitment to creating good public art that enriches all of our lives.”
Luminous Bodies is the second of three planned public art installations by Cliff Garten Studio, collectively entitled Corridor of Light, marking three major access points between Arlington, Washington D.C. and Alexandria, Virginia. Garten’s Gravity and Grace (2018), the first phase of Corridor of Light, is a site specific large-scale LED public artwork integrated into the architecture of Central Place Plaza (adjacent to the Rosslyn Metro Station). It is envisioned that these two projects will be joined by a corresponding installation of Luminous Bodies at the Meade Street Bridge (crossing Arlington Boulevard/Route 50 to the south). As a family of site-specific, infrastructure-as-art installations, these three projects provide iconic identification of entry points to Arlington and establish a shared language and 21st century identity for Rosslyn’s infrastructure.
About the Lynn Street Esplanade & Custis Trail Improvements
Installation of Luminous Bodies is a signature component of the Lynn Street Esplanade and Custis Trail Improvements. The project reached completion in the spring of 2020 after approximately two years of construction and transforms the public space along North Lynn Street and Lee Highway in Rosslyn. The project, a joint effort between Arlington County and the Virginia Department of Transportation, created wider sidewalks -- some up to 20 feet wide -- and a new on-street bike lane along North Lynn Street. It also significantly widened a section of the Custis Trail to 16 feet from 10 feet, created a wider grass buffer between the trail and Lee Highway, installed landscaping, and upgraded crosswalks, curb ramps, streetlights and traffic signals. The changes have created a safer and more accessible space for people walking or biking in this heavily traveled area.
About CLIFF GARTEN STUDIO
Cliff Garten is an internationally recognized sculptor and founder of Cliff Garten Studio in Venice, CA. He advocates for a way to help cities see the potential of infrastructure as the expression of the beauty and vitality of our public life, by using sculpture to form our everyday experience of the city. Garten is the recipient of two Individual Artist Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, two Bush Foundation Fellowships, and the Jerome Foundation Travelling Artist Grant. His civic sculptures have consistently been named best in the nation by the Americans for the Arts, Public Art Network and have been cited for design excellence by the American Society of Landscape Architects. Garten received a Master of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design and a Master of Landscape Architecture with Distinction from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
About Arlington Public Art
Today, Arlington is home to more than seventy permanent public art projects. Projects are directly commissioned to be integrated into various County capital improvement projects, commissioned by developers as part of the site plan process, and initiated by community groups. Arlington’s history of developer-funded public art projects, stemming from County planning objectives, began in 1979 with the commission of Nancy Holt’s Dark Star Park in Rosslyn. The Program also partners with local arts organizations, artists and community organizations to develop and present interpretative projects, temporary works, exhibitions and more. Arlington Public Art is a program of Arlington Arts/Arlington Cultural Affairs.
About Arlington Arts
Arlington Cultural Affairs, a division of Arlington Economic Development, delivers public activities and programs as Arlington Arts. Our mission is to create, support, and promote the arts, connecting artists and community to reflect the diversity of Arlington. We do this by: providing material support to artists and arts organizations in the form of grants, facilities and theater technology; integrating award-winning public art into our built environment; and presenting high quality performing, literary, visual and new media programs across the County.
About Rosslyn Business Improvement District
The Rosslyn Business Improvement District (BID) is a designated 17-block mixed-use, urban center in the heart of Rosslyn, Virginia. Through a public/private partnership with Arlington County, the Rosslyn BID provides services for our 25,000 employees, 15,000 residents and 1.2 million visitors a year to enhance, grow, and connect the neighborhood
Photos by Jeremy Green
Media Contact: Jim Byers – 703-228-1847; jbyers@arlingtonva.us