An image from LUMA
It’s the end of summer in Binghamton, which means the LUMA Projection Arts Festival is gearing up for what will be their biggest year yet!
Never experienced LUMA? Think of it as projection art on the side of a building using that building as a canvas. But until you see it in person, there is no way to describe just how incredible the sights and sounds really are!
LUMA began in 2015, when a group of artists, engineers and tech-minded folks started working on the idea of projection mapping. The plan was to try something only seen in much larger cities. The hope was to draw a crowd of 4,000 to 5,000 people. When 25,000 people showed up, they knew they’d hit a home run. LUMA Year One was a success.
However, that was only the beginning. For their third event last year, LUMA presented a fully immersive 3D show that wowed a crowd of more than 35,0000. Downtown Binghamton was once again transformed into a canvas for national and, for the first time, international artists projecting building-sized animation, video, sound and light.
Now, for their fourth year, LUMA is back and bigger than ever. Using 32 projectors, lighting up downtown Binghamton with 650,000 lumens, the show is just too much to light for a single night! In 2018, the show will span three nights, with new presentations, new building canvases, and a few new surprises.
SUNY Broome Assistant Director for Technology Services Fermin Romero is a Technical Director on the project again this year and had a few things to say about the buzz this festival has generated:
“Every year I am surprised by the number of people who begin asking me about LUMA. This year people began asking me in April if we were going to do a fourth year. Now that we’ve grown so much, I find myself surrounded by more and more talented people. Just the team of folks we’ve recruited for the technology side of the show is so much larger than what we started with back in 2015. Honestly, looking back, I am shocked at what we were able to do these past three years, and I’m really looking forward to showing what we’re able to do this year.”
As with previous years, starting at sundown festival-goers can move from building to building at their own pace to enjoy everything that our artists have dreamed up. However, this year there’s more to LUMA. The schedule for 2018 is as follows. (Please be sure to check lumafestival.com for any last minute changes or additions)
Friday, Sept 7
5 p.m. – Sight Unseen – A Dinner Experience Pneuhaus Street Sculptures
6 p.m. – Street Fair
9 p.m. – LUMA Feature Productions Transfiguracio with Binghamton Philharmonic
11 p.m. – Afterglow
Saturday, Sept 8
12 p.m. – Pneuhaus Street Sculptures
2 p.m. – E-Styles Workshop
4 p.m. – Opera & Beer Street Fair
5 p.m. – Sight Unseen – A Dinner Experience Eric Ross – A Theremin Concert
9 p.m. – LUMA Feature Productions Transfiguracio with Binghamton Philharmonic
Sunday, Sept 9
11 a.m. – LUMA Storytellers Conference
