Birmingham Lights
Light Rails is a public art project installed inside the 18th Street underpass at the Railroad Reservation in downtown Birmingham, adjacent to the east end of Railroad Park and the entrance to the Birmingham Central Station.
The project was initiated with a $247,000 Community Catalyst Funds grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham to REV Birmingham in April 2013. Although the underpasses are owned by the railroads, the City of Birmingham is responsible for maintaining them. With the city's support and no objections from the railroads, REV commissioned San Antonio, Texas-based artist Bill FitzGibbons to design and install the work which was unveiled to the public on June 27.
The installation consists of several rows of "Color Kinetics" color-tunable LED fixtures manufactured by Philips. They are connected to a central "iPlayer3" controller, which provides both power and control signals to each fixture via a 4-conductor DMX network. The lighting washes the interior surfaces of the underpass with brilliant colored light, constantly changing according to the artist's pre-programmed sequence. The 17-minute program is set to loop from dusk to dawn. For the month of December the rainbow-colored program was reduced to red and green. Other special programs can be installed by SD card and triggered at specific times by a built-in clock. The project was designed to use about a third of the energy of the high-intensity white lights that had illuminated the bridge (albeit inconsistently) since 2008.
REV also developed a master plan for other downtown lighting projects. In December 2013 they announced that additional funding had been secured to allow the other railroad underpasses, at 14th Street, 19th Street, and 20th Street to also be illuminated by FitzGibbons' artwork in early 2014.
References
- "An interview with Light Rails artist Bill FitzGibbons" (June 26, 2013) Community Foundation of Great Birmingham blog
- Wright, Maury (October 2013) "Birmingham celebrates railroad history, connects city center with LEDs" LEDs Magazine
- Tomberlin, Michael (December 5, 2013) "Birmingham viaduct lights offer holiday flash with more projects to come." The Birmingham News