Light City to transform Inner Harbor with help from TU faculty, students and alumni

Imagine Baltimore’s historic waterfront transformed by light, music and innovation—a veritable feast for the senses made possible in part through the efforts of an interdisciplinary creative team from Towson University.

Light City, which continues through Sunday, April 3, is the first large-scale, international light festival in the United States. Homegrown in Baltimore, the inaugural event will generate an ecosystem of ideas and learning during the day, while lights, performances and music will reimagine the Inner Harbor at night. Admission is free and open to the general public.  

Jenn Figg, Department of Art + Design, Art History and Art Education, describes Light City as “an incredibly supportive creative opportunity for area artists and performers. There’s a real budget, and we have fully funded projects that enable us to change and reimagine the Inner Harbor’s social landscape.”

Among the featured attractions will be the "BGE Night Walk:" 29 light art installations on the Inner Harbor promenade and adjacent streets, projected on area buildings and floating in the harbor. Along the walk are outdoor stages with nationally renowned DJs, area bands, performance groups and street theater.  

In addition to Figg, TU’s team includes faculty members Matthew McCormack, Department of Art + Design, Art History and Art Education; Lynn Tomlinson, Department of Electronic Media and Film; and Jay Hertzog, Department of Theatre Arts.

Figg and McCormack collaborated on "Making Waves," a permanent combined installation and performance that includes a suspended glass sculpture with a changing light show. For the festival, they created a series of 24-inch 3D-printed energy-harvesting kinetic light drums that when played will trigger ripples of light throughout the building. In addition to featured performances by professional drummers, "Making Waves" will enable festival goers to play the drums and illuminate the night.

Tomlinson (MFA ’14) teamed with UMBC puppetry artist Colette Searls for "Kendra’s Bay," a spectacle of live-cinema comedy combining animation, puppetry and street performance. "Kendra’s Bay" points to the unseen effects of how we handle cheap junk in an era of planned obsolescence. Performances are April 1 at 8, 9 and 10 p.m. and April 3 at 7:30 and 10 p.m. at the Inner Harbor Amphitheatre.

Herzog, a lighting designer, collaborated with Michael Owen and Tony Byrd to create "Diorama," which will feature a different theme/inspiration each night. Patterns and imagery will envelop the walls and acrylic panels as dancers move through all panels of the diorama, appearing to float and dive through the space. The installation flows through movements corresponding to the day-to-day life of a Baltimore resident. Performances will take place through April 3 at 8 p.m.

Also involved in Light City are TU student interns Jessie Greenwell, Julie Ansorge, Jenna Dutton, Jestin Parker, Heather Hannan and Larisa Mapp. Undergraduates Jacob Zimmerman and Caroline Hatfield also helped, and alumni Jerica Root, Cynthia O’Neill, Harrison Doyle, Helen Garcia-Alton, Lillie Kahkonen, and Nicholas Edwards lent their time and expertise to the project.