MILWAUKEE — A cross of art and technology will come together for a special arts and light show this weekend only!
Nitelight is a two-day immersive outdoor arts and lights show on Mitchell Street.
Accompanied by vendors and food, the festival is a series of light shows projected onto the multi-story building at 710 W. Historic Mitchell Street. Five local artists used 4D projection mapping to create their five-minute-long shows.
One of the artists is Ted Brusubardis. He spent five months on Adobe After Effects creating a Latvian choral piece that pays tribute to his family.
“I thought it was a unique challenge. It’s a lot of work to create something like this with the dimensions and precise measurements of the building,” Brusubardis said. “Showtime is where all the work is rewarded.”
In the beginning, laser technology scanned the building and created a blank canvas. The artists created shows, which were then connected to three 430 pound projectors that flash the display onto the same building.
“A pixel map is created of the building. Every nook and cranny, every window, are placed on the map, and that’s what you give to the artists. They have to work within those frames,” Steph Salvia, Executive Director of Joy Engine, explained.
The festival is hosted by Joy Engine, an art nonprofit hoping to create art in underutilized spaces around the community. They have other large installations across the city like “Under One Moon” in Catalano Square and “Cracking Art” on Milwaukee’s shoreline.
Joy Engine also collaborated with students from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design Lubar Innovation Center to develop their motion design skills.
The building used as the canvas is the new home to Mitchell Street Arts, another local nonprofit fostering arts access, especially on Milwaukee’s South Side.
While they opened in August, their executive director, Rew Gordon, said the light show is like another grand opening.
“It’s an awesome experience and we couldn’t be more happy to be the small community arts partner here. We do some really amazing work here and I’m excited to bring people in,” Gordon smiled.
The Mitchell Street Arts Collective will feature the first Rise and Grind coffee location on the South Side in a few weeks.
The festival runs in the evening on September 8 and 9 from 5-10:30 p.m. The event is family-friendly and free to the public. For the lineup and more information, you can visit their website.
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