The Santa Monica Pier and Beach and Palisades Park will Glow this coming Saturday night from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m., with sights and sounds created by over 100 artists from four different countries.
Paris Nuit Blanche helped inspire Santa Monica’s first Glow, and its spirit comes from the grunion that come ashore a few times a year to spawn on Santa Monica’s beaches.
Santa Monica’s Cultural Affairs Director Jessica Cusick told the Mirror that Glow’s artists will be presenting a “rethinking of contemporary art by pushing the envelope of public art” in a “museum without walls.” According to Cusick, the Glow program has a budget of $300,000. A third of that budget is being funded by the City of Santa Monica and the other two-thirds by private donations, so the program is free to the public.
Marc Pally, the program’s artistic director, explained that because the art will be shown from “dusk to dawn, a lot of the work is about light. The work also has an engaging and participatory aspect to it.” He also mentioned that Glow is “a unique opportunity for artists because it gives them the opportunity to jumpstart people’s sensibilities” in civic space.
The Mirror had the opportunity to speak to several of the participating artists on Monday night, July 14. Usman Haque, who comes from England, calls his art “Primal Source.” He described it as “something that has never been done before with proven technology assembled in a way never done before that will create a mirage type feeling.” The public will be able to participate in the making of the art out of light and water on the beach.
The Mirror also spoke with artist Kalim Chan, who will be working along with fellow artist Dmitry Kmelnitsky on “Spirited Sails” near the old Muscle Beach. They will be using three projectors to project images from different angles onto screens wrapped around the beach’s existing ring apparatus while a special soundtrack plays. Chan has worked as a public artist before in downtown Los Angeles.
The final artist the Mirror interviewed will display a work called “Tonalism” in the Pier’s historic Carousel building. According to Cindy Bernard from the Society for the Activation of Social Spaces Through Art and Sound (SASSAS), this all-night event will feature 4 live bands, 8 DJs, and is the result of “video artists collaborating with DJs.” SASSAS will be collaborating with DUBLAB, a collective of artists and DJs, on this project.
Glow is presented by the City, in partnership with the Bayside District Corporation, the Pier Restoration Corporation, and the Santa Monica Convention and Visitors Bureau. More information about Glow can be found at glowsantamonica.org or at the official Glow information booth at 1400 Ocean Avenue.
