Organized by the 1708 Gallery, InLight Richmond attracts local, national, and international artists to engage with visitors from around Greater Richmond on an annual basis. The art-all of which is light-based-is displayed and performed, on sidewalks and in storefronts, streets, and alleys.
Each year the public participation begins with a Lantern Walk and continues into thenight. This year’s event, staged in the Arts and Cultural District, included large-scale 3d mapping and projections on the facades of buildings and a sculpture activated with sound sensors. The motion of viewers activated other pieces. One installation, the Bring Your Own Beamer, encouraged the public to plug their own media player into a projection system.

“Putting art in spaces people are already comfortable with makes it more accessible. It’s creating a time for people to engage,” explains Emily Watson, executive director of 1708. “I think it’s really compelling to reach a wide audience without compromising the quality of the art.”

In addition to the spectacle of the public experiences, the event provides artists with a unique opportunity.

“I think that it creates challenges for the artist that they like,” says Watson. “The artists get out of their zone. Day to day, their practice can be insular in a studio. Taking their art to the public is the end goal and this gets that interaction.”

Prior to reaching the goal and achieving artist and community interaction, there is a frenzy of work. “The artists start working on Friday, work on it for 8 hours and turn it on,” Watson says. “Usually the artists have just finished (before the exhibition begins) and they are there with the public. That energy is a really important part of InLight.”

When the sun goes down, all of the preparation for InLight and the collaboration between 1708, artists, city government, police, property owners, and businesses fades into dark, leaving light-inspired art to connect people to one another. As an example, Watson recalls a vine-like installation in front of the Martin Agency two years ago.

“The artist was standing to the side and noticed one man standing there, looking and looking at the piece,” Watson recalls. “Finally the artist approached him and they started talking. The man was an electrician and worked with these same electrical items every day and always thought of them as useful but never thought they could be used in this way. InLight makes space for those kinds of interactions to happen.”