Philadelphia Weekly

ARTS AND CULTURE

Upon the Roof

By Roberta Fallon

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Mar. 6, 2002

LURE--a series of temporary, outdoor light and sound happenings organized by Aaron Igler--flashed to life last weekend. Shooting-star quick and in spite of heavy rain, the two-wall projection by Olivia Schreiner and sound chamber by Clint Takeda went up then vanished into memory (but into photo documentation at Vox Populi ) making way for the next event scheduled for March 23. The LURE (Lighting for Urban Rooftop Environments) projects--by Schreiner, Takeda, Candy Depew, Davickolande, David Guinn, Francien Van Everdingen, Nick Muellner, Matthew Suib and Takatomo Tomita--are both insider art events and serendipitous, outdoor art for unsuspecting passers-by. "LURE comes out of my love of the rooftop experience. You have the sky right there," says Igler, who debuted the first LURE project two years ago on his own roof deck. He characterized the idea as a kind of "gallery-cum-drive-in-theater-cum-roof-deck-party" experience. Most of the aboveground "underground" events--which include video, slide, film or light projections and, in one instance, a DJ--will be projected onto the upper reaches of building facades and viewable from a neighboring rooftop or from the street. Short-lived, environmentally interactive art projects are not a new idea, but these evening showers of light, color and sound are an experiment both romantic and whimsical, and a nice embrace of the urban night.
>> For dates and locations of LURE projects, go to http://lure.kingbig.org. Closing reception (including photo documentation), March 30, 6pm. Vox Populi , 1315 Cherry St., fourth fl. 215.568.5513. www.voxpopuligallery.org