A to Z – 2023 – T is for Traxon Technologies who created the lighting sequence for the Coding

Posted on April 24, 2023 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

I have been attempting to show some of the interesting light shows in the Illuminate SF project for my A to Z this year. There are some that are inside San Francisco International Airport but you have to be flying somewhere to get past security to see them. I miss the old days when you could just meet someone at their gate or even just wander through the airport to see the different art displays they have. Oh well.

One of the installations is very visible and it’s right around the corner from where I live so it was not too hard to get the shots I needed. This is called Coding and it was designed by Johanna Grawunder in 2019. During the day it looks like this. The yellow tags point to North, East, West and South. The square and rectangle windows apparently spell out San Francisco in Morse code.

At night it looks like this. The undercarriages of the elevator shafts change color ever so slightly. It takes 24 hours to change so I only have this example. You can see some subtle differences.

This is at the long term parking facility and it definitely wasn’t busy when I was there. We had to go through the gate so I could get close enough to take the pictures but we weren’t there long enough to get charged thank goodness.

Best Viewing – SFO Long-Term Parking Garage, anytime after dusk.

And that’s that. See you tomorrow!

Side note: I don’t know about others but this year I am getting a lot of spam comments. Fortunately they are being caught by my spam finder but it is frustrating to think that there’s a creep on the A to Z!

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A to Z – 2023 – S is for The Seed

Posted on April 22, 2023 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Today is Saturday and for our last letter this week in the A to Z Challenge we have the letter “S.” Fortunately, Illuminate SF has The Seed that I can use.

I got a picture of The Seed in 2021 when I went through the Castro for that year’s A to Z but it was in the daytime. While that looks nice, it is a bit more interesting after dark.

The Seed was designed by Aphidoidea in 2017. It is a collection of six dandelions (only 3 were working when I was there) that are 13 feet tall. They are meant to represent the idea that a single wish blown away can inspire a movement.

I couldn’t do much about the guy sitting in front of the statue. It is true that this is one of the busiest intersections in the city. I was lucky to be able to pull into a gas station across the street.

If I had been paying better attention, right on the other corner from this installation is the Hope Will Never Be Silent saying. Instead, I parked and got these pictures/video and then went around the block and parked again. Typical tourist, no?

We finished another week! One more to go. I have a few coming up that are pretty interesting I think. Hope you are enjoying this trip through the streets of San Francisco. Have a great rest of your weekend.

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A to Z – 2023 – R is for Reading the Language of the Birds

Posted on April 21, 2023 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Of all the creative license I have been using to cover my A to Z Challenge letters, this one is by far the biggest stretch. The letter “R” is not actually anywhere in the description of installation or its designer’s name. However, what seem to be flying birds are actually supposed to be books and books are usually Read so…

On the corner of Columbus and Broadway in the pedestrian plaza that links Chinatown and North Beach you will find this scene of “books” positioned in such a way to look like birds in motion. The artwork on the side of the building is representative of the North Beach scene.

Language of the Birds, as it is called, was designed by Brian Goggin and Dorka Keehn in 2008. It is the first solar power-offset public artwork in California. The artists teamed with scientist David Shearer and Lawrence Ferlinghetti (owner of City Lights bookstore which is right around the corner) to provide solar power to the city’s grid to offset the energy used by the artwork. You can hear the busy street sounds in the background. This was the night my husband and I had dinner at the Stinking Rose which is just up the street.

A shorter one from just a little up the street. This one really makes it look like birds flying I think.

And now as I am writing this, I am re-Reading the description on the Illuminate SF website and it says that if you look at the ground under the flock you will see pages that look like they have fallen out of the books. Of course I was looking UP so didn’t look DOWN to see that and have no pictures. From the designer’s web:

“Passing under the flock, pedestrians notice words and phrases embedded in the plaza floor that appear to have fallen from the pages. On closer inspection the fallen words are in English, Italian and Chinese and were selected from the neighborhoodā€™s rich literary history, ranging from the Beats, to SF Renaissance poets and Chinese writers, over 90 authors are represented including Armistead Maupin, Gary Snyder, William T. Vollman, and Jade Snow Wong.

The artists created the design of the plaza floor in Atrium of the SFMOMA. Retaining their original font, individual words from chosen phrases were cast from the third floor gallery of the museum. Words fluttered down 60 feet landing on a paper replica of the plaza thus determining their resting place in the final artwork. Influenced by practices like reading tea-leaves and Japanese gardening techniques. The words intersect in ways that allow for new unique interpretations and meanings.”

Doesn’t that sound cool?

Best Viewing: After dark stand across the street on Columbus Avenue to get the full effect and then walk over to the plaza to get a close up view. Don’t forget to look down to see the words on the ground.

I think we need to go back to the Stinking Rose for dinner so I can get a picture of the words on the sidewalk and also take a peek in City Lights bookstore, don’t you? (I wrote about City Lights in my last SF A to Z.) One more letter this week and then we have a rest day.

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A to Z – 2023 – Q is for Quotes on Anima

Posted on April 20, 2023 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

In the A to Z Challenge, the letter “Q” can be a difficult one but luckily I was able to find some quotes!

Anima is a cylinder of curved metal that is lit from inside to cast shadowy bits of poetry and ancient text in a halo across the plaza in front of Alexandria Real Estate Equities.

The illuminated words are in different languages and include pieces from the Human Genome Project, Dr. Leslie Taylor, Louis Pasteur, Greek physician Claudius Galen, Roman historian Pliny and a quote from Qi Bo, physician to the Chinese Emperor.

It was designed by Jim Sanborn in 2006 and is located at 1700 Owens Street in front of the Alexandria Real Estate Equities building. There is a plaque that details the quotes but I couldn’t get a good picture of it. I also couldn’t really read any of them because most were in a different language. I did manage to find the Qi Bo section, so that counts as my “Q” right?

Best Viewing: Anytime after dusk. I will say that this was very easy to get to and is in a quiet place so you can park and walk around to read it all.

“R” you ready for tomorrow?

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A to Z – 2023 – P is for Point Cloud

Posted on April 19, 2023 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Continuing to work our way through the alphabet for the A to Z Challenge this year, we are at the letter “P.” As you know I am wandering around the streets of San Francisco looking for the interesting light installations that are part of the “Illuminate SF” project.

Today we have Point Cloud which was designed by Leo Villarreal and opened in 2019. It is a 100-foot pedestrian bridge that crosses Howard Street, connecting the two sides of Moscone Center (named for George Moscone, the Mayor of San Francisco who was assassinated with Harvey Milk).

I was able to pull over to the side of the road and get this short video to give you an idea of the light show. See if you can spot the little friend I found in the building.

There are 858 steel rods suspended from the roof with 28,288 LED lights which are individually programmed and change 30 times PER SECOND into shades of blue, yellow, orange, pink and lavender.

Best Viewing: Nighttime from the corner of Howard and Third streets. That’s just about where I was parked.

Pretty cool, huh? See you tomorrow for “Q.”

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A to Z – 2023 – O is for Olafur Eliasson’s Seeing Spheres

Posted on April 18, 2023 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

To anyone new here, I am blogging this year about a San Francisco experience called “Illuminate SF” which is a “celebration of the ability of light art to transform our most familiar spaces and an opportunity to turn the long nights of winter into an inspiring time to visit San Francisco.” It has been going on for 10 years now and the installations I am focusing on are the ones that have become permanent fixtures around the city.

“Seeing Spheres” was designed by Olafur Eliasson and is his largest public artwork display in the United States. It consists of five polished hydroformed steel spheres that are 15-1/2 feet tall. Each sphere has a flat, circular mirrored face framed by a ring of LED lights oriented inward to reflect the mirrored faces of the surrounding spheres.

Per the Illuminate SF description, this is supposed to produce an “environment of multilayered reflected spaces in which the same people and settings appear again and again, visible from various unexpected angles. Tunnel-like sets of nested reflections open up in the mirrors, repeating countless times and disappearing into the distance.”

Unfortunately while the spheres are still there, they are not reflecting at the moment due to vandalism so that explains why I didn’t see anything when I stood in front of them. I didn’t read about the vandalism until I was doing the research for this post. It’s too bad people can’t control themselves and not ruin it for others.

Best Viewing: After dusk, located on the triangular plaza in front of the East entrance to Chase Center, 1 Warriors Way. The big round balls are still interesting, reflective or not.

Okay folks, thanks for coming along on this journey with me. Make sure to come back tomorrow because I have a real treat for the letter “P!”

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A to Z – 2023 – N is for Ivan Navarro who designed The Ladder (Sun or Moon)

Posted on April 17, 2023 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

And so we begin another week in our A to Z Challenge. My theme this year is a San Francisco experience called Illuminate SF. For the last 10 years there have been installations of lights around the city. Some have become permanent and those are the ones we are visiting.

For the letter “N” I am using Ivan Navarro’s design called “The Ladder.” It was installed in 2020 on the side of the building at 1066 Market Street. During the day it looks like a normal functioning fire escape but at night the neon lights make it look like a stairway to the sky.

Mr. Navarro’s concept is to take ordinary looking things and transform them into works of art. This particular ladder is 10 stories high and cost $850,000. I am wondering how the people who live in those apartments deal with that neon light right outside their window all night. And I don’t think it’s an actual functioning fire escape. You can see that some of the lights need replacing too.

Best Viewing: Anytime after dusk.

That’s all I got for this one. Come back tomorrow for some “O’s.”

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A to Z – 2023 – M is for Monarch

Posted on April 15, 2023 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

I know I have been using some creativity to connect the dots on the A to Z but for this one I am able to match the name of the Illuminate SF installation to the correct letter of the alphabet! Actually, there were 14 of the 26 that I was able to match exactly.

The Monarch sculpture was designed by Cliff Garten in 2015. It is made of stainless steel and LED lights. It depicts the metaphor of how individuals become stronger by gathering together in communities. San Francisco has a “percent for art” requirement for new buildings and this piece was chosen by local Kaiser Permanente staff.

During the day sunlight breaks through the installation highlighting individual butterflies. At night programmable LED lights illuminate the gathering with “multi-colored luminescence.” I didn’t see any changing colors but it did look different from different spots in the little park. Maybe it was still too early, although it was dark out and I did wander about a bit getting it from different angles.

And while I was getting those pictures I saw this:

Another one of the Hearts of San Francisco from the 2021 A to Z!

Best Viewing: The Monarch is located at 1600 Owens Street outside the Kaiser Permanente Medical Offices. Arrive after dusk to view the oscillating LED illumination (which I didn’t see – LOL)

We made it through the second week! Are you having fun going through SF with me? I’ll see you next week. We still have a few really cool lights to see.

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A to Z – 2023 – L is for Love Over Rules

Posted on April 14, 2023 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

This was by far the hardest of my Illuminate SF installations to find. You would think that 6-feet, 6-inch letters on the side of the building would be easy to see but it took me THREE trips to locate it. The first time I went by myself and went to the address given on the website. I drove around the block three or four times looking up at all the corners but I couldn’t see it anywhere so I gave up and went on with the other stops I had to make that night.

The next time I enlisted the help of my husband, thinking that if he dropped me off at the corner and then went around the block to pick me up, I would have time to walk around a little bit to see if I could find it from a different angle. I mentioned in a prior post that the streets of San Francisco are not “normal” streets so you can’t just drive around the block exactly and he got lost coming back so I had plenty of time to look around and I still couldn’t see the lights. We gave up again and went on to some other spots.

This was the last letter I needed to finish my alphabet and I was determined to find the dumb thing so I went one more time by myself to see if I could capture it. I also wanted to swing back by the Lantern Stories to see if I could find the right lanterns, which I did!

The address given on the Illuminate SF website was 165 Jessie Street but when I looked at the actual description of the sign on a different website it showed Annie Street, which is right around the corner so off to Annie Street I went. I drove around the block. Still nothing. Then I decided to go down a second block on Annie Street and in front of me was the glass windows of a store on Mission Street and I SAW SOME BLINKING LIGHTS!

I drove toward them and it indeed was the reflection of the sign I was looking for. I crossed the street and parked, got out and looked up and STILL COULDN’T SEE IT! I kept walking up the block a little bit and at last I saw this:

Oh my goodness I was SO excited. I had found the illusive “Love Over Rules” designed by Hank Willis Thomas and installed in 2017. It is a tribute to the artist’s cousin who was murdered in 2000. The blinking lights are the last recorded message to him from his cousin. As you watch the video, you will see that there are different ways to read this. Is it Love Over Rules or Love Overrules?

Finding this meant my alphabet was complete and since I had all my posts drafted before the A to Z Challenge started, I knew I was home free. This has been the easiest A to Z I think I’ve ever done.

Best Viewing: Near the California Historical Society, stand near the Annie Street sign on Mission Street facing north and LOOK UP!

See you tomorrow for the final letter of the week!

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A to Z – 2023 – K is for Joseph Kosuth who designed WFT (Word Family Tree)

Posted on April 13, 2023 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

I used to see this interesting set of words on the side of the Bill Graham Auditorium in 2020 when I was driving my son to and from work, which gave me the idea for that year’s A to Z. I didn’t write about it then but I was pleasantly surprised to see it pop up in this year’s Illuminate SF exhibit.

Wrapped around the building is a string of words which form the “Word Family Tree” of civic and auditorium. Designed by Joseph Kosuth, the lighted words were installed in 2019 and represent the first major project funded by the City’s Public Art Trust. Mr. Kosuth describes his work as follows:

“The structure of this installation has two parts: the etymology of the words ā€˜Civicā€™ and ā€˜Auditoriumā€™ in white neon on the western faƧade. The word ā€˜Civicā€™ is intricately connected to the long history of civil rights activism that has taken place (and continues to take place) in the plazaā€“from Gay Rights to Black Lives Matter. The word ā€˜Auditoriumā€™ on the other hand is more specific to the building itself, referring to the collective audience assembled by Bill Graham, who found a way, as a concert promoter to not only promote concerts but also community. It is only in the present when a word is used, as it is with a work of art being experienced, that all which comprises the present finds its location in the process of making meaning. Here, in this work, language becomes both an allegory and an actual result of all of which it would want to speak.“

From where I parked, I could only see this side of the building. The “Auditorium” tree is on the other side. The front of the building had the rainbow colors in the window that I included in my “I” post. I have to say that when I first saw the letters “WFT” I read them as “WTF” and wondered how that would work out. Then I read the description and realized I had the letters mixed up. – LOL

Best Viewing: Anytime after dusk, Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 99 Grove Street, SF.

We are moving right along here in our A to Z Challenge. See you tomorrow for “L.”

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