Hey, remember when we told you about the giant laser beam that artist and former Warhol "superstar" Ultra Violet planned to shoot across Biscayne Bay during Art Basel? And it sounded pretty cool and elegant and egalitarian? And how it had the potential to become emblematic of this year's Art Basel Week, in the same way the pink snails did in 2010 and Miru Kim did last year?
Well, uh, scratch all that.
See also:
- UR1 Festival Brings Giant Laser Beam to Downtown Miami During Art Basel
Ultra Violet's giant Noguchi-inspired project is yet another casualty of the postponing (or, if you believe the rumors, cancellation) of the UR1 Festival, originally scheduled for December 8 and 9. UR1 announced Wednesday that it was postponing the festival indefinitely, saying the decision was made due to strong winds being predicted for that weekend and the effects of Hurricane Sandy.
If those were the only reasons for its postponement, there was still a chance that Ultra Violet's light display would go on, given that it uses a sculpture that's survived Miami storms since the '80s as its foundation, and that, well, you can't exactly blow light away.
But Ultra Violet released a statement on Friday announcing that her project, too, was off the table for Art Basel week.
"I had great hopes that relighting Noguchi's Tower of Light would bring the desperately needed attention to his unknown 32 acre sculpture at Bayfront Park sitting in severe disrepair and neglect,'' the artist said in a statement, the Miami Herald reports. "Hopefully the community leaders and artists in Miami will begin a dialogue to preserve this incredibly important and historically significant national landmark.''
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