Once again, the Broward Cultural Division was able to shine a light on the County’s arts scene. Literally, this time.
IGNITE Broward, a free, family-friendly art experience, illuminated locations in Fort Lauderdale and Dania Beach. For five fabulous days and nights, visitors met at the intersection of art and technology and immersed themselves in site-specific artworks created by leading contemporary artists and designers working with interactive video and light.
Phillip Dunlap, director of Broward Cultural Division, sees the festival as an opportunity to bring art to the people. “Any way that government can provide low-cost or, in this case, free arts programming – make it accessible, make it inviting, make it exciting – is something we want to do,” he says.
“The ultimate goal is to create a signature event for the county, build it in a sort of grassroots community-based way that creates a solid foundation, so that it becomes a sustainable venture,” Dunlap says. “We want to grow it into something that’s unique to Broward County that isn’t about copying Miami or Palm Beach but about creating something that’s a niche for us.”
Whales swam across the façade of the Museum of Discovery & Science (MODS) in Fort Lauderdale. Across the street in Esplanade Park, light, sound and ever-changing images immersed visitors in a dreamlike landscape. And, in Dania Beach, a vast and undulating seascape populated by boats and larger-than-life characters on a never-ending journey surrounded viewers on all sides.
“It is about creating an experience for the viewer; something that they can live through their senses, with the visuals, sound and the vibrations it produces,” says Edison Peñafiel, a South Florida-based artist whose work was featured in this year’s event. “With projection mapping, the work can totally transform or make an intervention of a specific space, and the large scale or the 360-degree projection room allows for a better experience.”
Projection mapping transforms unexpected surfaces – like the exterior walls of a building – into a screen on which light and images are projected. The three-dimensional configuration of the surface becomes part of the interactive display.