LUMA in Binghamton

About six months ago I learned a color and light festival would be taking place in Asbury Park, NJ. The organizers really lucked out with the weather as that March weekend temperatures were in the 50s, my notes say it was windy and felt colder than that, but that time of year in New Jersey it is just as likely to be raining or *gasp* snowing.

We got talking to a man at the event. He was soaking it up. He made his family, including toddler, travel to the land of Springsteen to stare at the light projections on the side of the Paramount Theater/Convention Hall. Between showings he explained this was the first time his Binghamton, NY group had taken their projections on the road. Normally the only time they get together to do light mapping projections is the weekend after Labor Day for the LUMA Projection Arts Festival.

I made a mental note: go to Binghamton, NY the weekend after Labor Day.

Oh look -- that's my birthday weekend!

With Don working at REI, I wasn't sure if we would make it. Saturday was scheduled to be the Full Moon Bike Ride -- an event he has volunteered at for most of the ten years it has been around. In the end, the event was postponed due to rain, a storm that passed through Binghamton in time for their event.

LUMA in Binghamton is different than it was in Asbury Park. In March, all of the artists designed work for the same building. Each show was a few minutes long, and ran back to back for just over a half an hour. I later learned 12,000 people attended those two days. It did not feel crowded in the field. A stranger said "just imagine how crowded this would have been had it been held in the summer." 

Yup, just imagine.

Six months later we attended LUMA wearing summer attire, carrying a light jacket in case it got cooler once the sun set. 

Binghamton's event is soon after the beginning of the school year. Downtown went from empty streets thirty minutes before starting to packed two hours later. There were families with small children, teens, college age students, people our age, older couples, people with walkers and crutches. Though I saw a few Black people, the vast majority were white. I don't know what they could do to make it more diverse.

There were had six "main stages," buildings, within a few blocks of each other. They were spaced just far enough apart that you couldn't hear the music from one while at another. Each had a countdown to when their show would start, included tastefully thanking the local politicians as well as their sponsors. 

One of the six buildings displayed artwork created by nine local school children. That one seemed to have parents camped out videotaping their little Rembrandt's paintings made bigger than life. 

There were also eight smaller venues that fit in the "nooks and crannies" of Binghamton. The entire event is FREE! Donations are encouraged to off-set expenses. 

My favorite projections were when the buildings were transformed to the point where it seemed as if the actual building was altered, especially on the Culinary Arts building which gave the illusion of a marble circling down their giant columns. Don preferred when stories unfolded on the buildings.

I'm impressed with the sorcery that is used to make the images fit the buildings. Each story has a unique style. The evening unfolded at a pace that it was easy to see all six buildings, and visit the vendors. We left at 10 pm knowing we still had a three-hour drive ahead of us. The event had "tens of thousands" of people attend. Their main street was wall to wall people.

LUMA posted on Facebook that next they were heading to Bucharest for an international competition September 20 and 21. I wish them all the best.

A hearty thank you to the volunteers and security team that made this event a success.