Reinventing Public Art, Thousands of LEDs at a Time

At the Boston Harbor Islands pavilion on Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway, brightly lit screens beckon the late-night wanderer, long after the visitor center has closed. Take a closer look, and waves made by individual bar graphs appear, a bit like the sound readout on old stereo systems. The thick, undulating brush strokes are all based on thousands of pieces of data, collected over a season in the vast archipelago – the height of the tides, the speed of the winds, even the flights of bees.

The electronic portrait is part of the burgeoning phenomenon of digital art, where the canvas is an LED screen. The visual muscle of digital art all but announces a potential transformation in public art in the city. It could make graffiti bombing and innovative artists like JR, with his giant eyes on the facades of the favelas, seem quaint by comparison.