If you live in Phoenix or are traveling to Phoenix over the holidays - buy your tickets now to the Bruce Munro Sonoran Light exhibit held at the Desert Botanical Garden. Heralded in by a gorgeous cool Phoenix night, the preview event was spectacular.
Desert Botanical Garden - View
It's difficult to describe Bruce Munro's work. Oh, yea, I can say optic fiber and lights covering the hill and the landscape. But I suspect in saying this you're like - why is this special. I think the difficulty is that Munro's work is partly visible with a whole lot of experiential. Imagine night time - seeing familiar territory now 'breathing' light, like the night sky with pulses, changing colors, and a feeling of life. I'm realizing as I write this that I do not have words; perhaps seeing some examples in the video might help communicate how powerful Munro's work is.
This was my first sight - these incredible pillars of changing light with the mountain as a backdrop, a mountain covered in light. Sun was mostly set, the air was cool, planes in the night sky heading to Sky Harbor, and here I stood seeing this beautiful array of colors in the midst of cactus and coolness.
At times I felt as though I were in a science fiction movie - complete with neural pathways, networks, and pulsing communication bandwidth...
Other photos of incredible shapes and experiences...
What I love about this sort of exhibit is how lovely the desert is for light, the shapes, textures, and coolness creating a special place and experience. There were many families exploring the DBG, I was moved by children's responses and association with 'being in another world" I heard one child say - wouldn't it be cool if the desert always had colors like this. Another child launched into a story about another planet including a description of life there. I heard many adults say "Wow, this is incredible" This, to me, is the power of art and beauty - activating the imagination, igniting a sense of awe, wonder, and appreciation for beauty.