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International Artist Lights Up Downtown Durham
Sleep No More Opens to Public on December 1st
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Jaume Plensa has created a light sculpture which will be unveiled at the Durham Performing Arts Center’s ribbon cutting on Dec 1st. |
Internationally renowned Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, whose accessible, high-tech installations have been enjoyed by people all over the world, is bringing his creative touch to Durham this month. Donated to the city of Durham by Capitol Broadcasting Company, Inc., Plensa’s Sleep No More will be located in a newly created plaza beside the Durham Performing Arts Center as a lasting beacon to the ongoing revitalization of the city. The light bridge will be turned on only when there is programming in the Durham Performing Arts Center. The debut will be part of the City of Durham’s Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and Public Event on December 1st.
The Sleep No More features a narrow beam of white light shining high into the night sky. Located in an intimate courtyard adjacent to the new theater, the light will be emitted beneath the ground through a circular lens, embedded in a 13-ft diameter cast bronze disk. The beacon of light is expected to be visible for miles. A quote by Shakespeare drawn from Macbeth will be cast in raised letters, spiraling out from the center of the disk. The sculpture affirms consistent themes in Plensa’s work, including a connection to the literary and theatrical worlds, as well as the duality between light and dark, the Earth and the heavens, and an upward economic and cultural transformation of the city of Durham.
The public is invited to view the inaugural lighting
of Sleep No More
on Monday, December 1st
CBC Plaza next to the new
Durham Performing Arts Center
A close-up view of Plensa’s plan for the DPAC installation. |
Plensa was born in Barcelona in 1955 and has won numerous national and international awards. His work is exhibited in museums and galleries around the world. Best known is his Crown Fountain in MillenniumPark in Chicago, a pair of 50-foot glass block towers projecting video images of ordinary people visiting the park. Other light bridge works include the Blake in Gateshead, a laser beam that on special occasions shines high into the night sky over Gateshead‘s Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in North East England and Breathing, a memorial dedicated to journalists killed while undertaking their assignments. Located atop the BBC Broadcasting House in London, a beam of light is projected from the sculpture each evening to coincide with the BBC News at Ten.
American Tobacco is Downtown Durham’s Entertainment District and is home to the American Tobacco Campus, which contains 5 restaurants and over three dozen businesses; the Durham Bulls Athletic Park; and the Durham Performing Arts Center.
