Bloomington adding lighted, interactive artwork to Fourth Street garage walkway

For the next two years, the walkway between the Fourth Street garage and Juan Sells will be a place of glowing intrigue.

Imagined as a way to reactivate "invisible" urban spaces, the art installation created by Esteban Garcia Bravo called PRISMA is made up of three prisms that form an open-air tunnel with an animated, lighted experience.

Garcia Bravo created PRISMA for the 2023 Exhibit Columbus architecture biennial. PRISMA’s re-installation in Bloomington isn't exactly the same though.

"A different iteration of the installation was up in Columbus from August to November 2023," said Holly Warren, Bloomington's assistant director for the arts. "The lights in the Bloomington iteration of the project will be activated by human interaction. This wasn't an element featured in the Columbus version of the piece."

In a news release, Garcia Bravo said he had originally envisioned the interactive element that will be present in Bloomington's installation.

“In this new installation for the City of Bloomington, we added an element of interactivity that was originally intended for this piece by creating a light tunnel that triggers different light sequences as participants walk through it," Garcia Bravo said. "I would like to thank my collaborators for making this dream possible!”

The artwork is made of steel rods with wooden corners and LED lights, Warren said. The lights will be on a timer and will only be on at night.

Warren said the installation may stay beyond two years, depending on how it holds up.

The city and Downtown Bloomington, Inc., will celebrate the installation of PRISMA from 9-10 p.m. Friday, July 12. at the site of the installation in the south alley of the Fourth Street garage. The celebration will feature music by local DJ Ian Sundstrom and live performances organized by The Back Door.

Garcia Bravo also created Aurora Almanac, which is installed in the Trades District garage as part of the city’s One Percent for the Arts program.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Esteban Garcia Bravo public art getting second run in Bloomington alley