ARTVIRONMENTALIST — June 11, 2014

“Nightlight, Presented by Flux Factory and the LIC Community Garden”
by PATRICK JAOJOCO
Read the original here

Long Island City-based Flux Factory partnered with a local community garden (home of the Little Free Library) to present Nightlight, a public presentation of works toying with light and sculpture and redefining both community space and the gallery. While the project follows in the well-paved footsteps of Creative Time and the Public Art Fund in many ways, its presentation of work by more than 10 different artists is unified quite uniquely; with art works ranging from floodlit abstract sculpture to silhouetted projections to a hanging, functional wifi router, the project’s primary subject is the energy drawn exclusively from solar panels installed in the garden. It’s an interesting challenge to both the artists and curators (in this case, Flux Factory staff Carina Kaufman and artist-in-residence Alex Nathanson), as both the unifying subject and “gallery” space are fairly unconventional. But the project’s multifaceted interaction with its environment takes center stage, succeeding in its relationship to its audience, the garden space, and the light from which it draws its energy.