Public Media Art Commission in Boston

 

 

 

In this commissioned piece, shirts and undershorts hung on a line to dry are caught by gusts of wind, bridging the space between the Marquee and its environment,.  High above passersby, they billow, snap and surge.  Deep, vibrant colors pop, and we are swept up in the joyful, lyric and rhythmic dance.

Laundry Line offers a playful respite from the chaotic stress of the urban grid.  It engages the senses of the commuter caught in gridlock or of the businessperson heading for a meeting. It helps ground viewers in simple pleasures offered through the body and senses: experiences we’ve become less and less accustomed to. 

At the same time, the piece gently tweaks the professional urbanite, reminding him of his daily masquerade by revealing the independent and hidden life of a work costume just like his, and referencing the unseen body now freed of clothes -- just as the clothes themselves are freed by the wind.

Laundry Line makes playful reference, too, to the Marquee’s location in the Seaport district: these too, are sails in the wind.

 

Boston Cyberarts and the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority have teamed up to create “Art on the Marquee,” an ongoing project to commission Public Media Art for display on the new 80-foot-tall multi-screen LED marquee outside the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in South Boston. The largest urban screen in New England, this unique digital canvas is one of the first of its kind in the U.S. to integrate art alongside commercial and informational content as part of the MCCA’s longstanding neighborhood art program. “Art on the Marquee” offers artists more than 3,000 square feet of digital display on seven screens, providing full-motion video and a viewership of more than 100,000 pedestrians and motorists. The marquee is visible for a half a mile in many directions.