For those who remain: OPEN a night walk by The Flint Collective

The year of Coronavirus has given us so much to contemplate. The nature of work and isolation, what it is to be part of a city, what it is to escape, to connect, and to thrive. We'll be grappling with this fallout for a long time. But right now, we must do what we can to explore creatively and activate those around us to do the same.

From the simplest tools, like this Luminii RGBW tape the designers at Flint Collective are making stunning visuals.

That's why I was so excited when Leela Shanker of the Flint Collective invited me to be a part of their installation. It's titled For those who remain: OPEN, and it's running September 12th-Sept 20th from 7:30 pm to 11 pm each night in the east village of New York City.

The East Village remains a classic NYC neighborhood. It's a place where iconic businesses mix with new brands to create a vibrant street-level culture. The Coronavirus outbreak devastated the economy of New York City. By extension, many of the businesses of the East Village have been lost. Here’s what open is all about.

“OPEN” is a series of temporary light art installations occupying a selection of storefronts in the East Village. Visitors are invited to discover the neighborhood anew via a mapped out nightwalk. The walk links both empty and occupied storefronts transformed through a mix of light projections and radiant effusions of color. Sponsored by the Designers Lighting Forum of New York (DLFNY), the Flint Collective NYC partnered with lighting manufacturers and local business owners to respond to a city transformed by the global pandemic. In the rhythm of closed storefronts OPEN offers an optimistic pause of light and color.

My role was to help provide the tools needed to realize this project's creators' design vision. The folks at Luminii, WE-EF, and Insight Lighting came together to provide an array of gear to make these activations a reality. I cannot wait to share some of the images that these incredible designers have created.

The night walk opens Saturday, September 12th and runs every night from 7:30 pm to 11pm until September 20th

This Wednesday 9/16 I'm inviting any designers I personally work with to join me in exploring the night walk. There are still plenty of restaurants to visit for food and drinks, and I’d love to see you.