We’ve been treated to many months of the “largest permanent digital art projection in the world” since the spectacles returned to the huge 2.5-acre river façade of the Merchandise Mart earlier in the year with a new special spring commission by Derrick Adams marking 5 years of Art on the Mart projections..
A summer program of mesmerizing projections then lit up the Mart throughout summer with The Big Bang: Movement Theory + the Black Dancing Body by Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project and Building Light by Anna Nelson and Franklin Guttman of Gensler’s Chicago brand studio.
Now the summer program will come to an end with its final show on Wednesday, September 13 before handing over to a set of brand-new projections that will run for the next two months.
The new shows will include a new commission by Dr. Yiyun Kang, an esteemed artist in the field of projection mapping and immersive art, titled Only in the Dark, and a reprise of Charles Atlas’ celebrated projection The Geometry of Thought which first debuted in fall of 2019.
Beginning this Thursday night, September 14, Dr. Kang’s projection mapping installations will “create kinetic environments for audiences to explore” according to an official Art on theMART release.
Presented in partnership with Superblue, Dr. Kang’s Only in the Dark projections reportedly unfold over three immersive scenes combining digital animation and real footage, mixing the human figure with AI-generated imageries.
It is a piece that has been developed in response to humanity’s environmental crisis and the power of AI technologies.
Charles Atlas’ projection, Geometry of Thought, was a crowd favorite in the fall of 2019 and is being brought back in celebration of the platform’s 5th anniversary.
Both pieces will be shown every night from 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm through Friday, November 18.
Attracting thousands to the Riverwalk and Wacker Drive in downtown Chicago every week Art on theMART provides a public platform for local artists, national artists, and international artists with work ranging from schools to renowned exhibitions and everything in between.
The best place to view the 30-minute shows is from the jetty section of the Chicago Riverwalk between Wells and Franklin Streets.
More information can be found at artonthemart.com/programming.
[Featured image courtesy of Art on the Mart]