Clockwise from top: Spanish artist Luisa Alvarez's ghostly figures will wander through Georgetown this weekend.
This weekend, D.C.'s most conventional neighborhood will host the city's weirdest holiday light display. A Christmas tree will roast on a spit, ghostly office workers will float through a fog-filled atrium and giant eyes will blink in a church courtyard.
These installations are part of Georgetown GLOW, an unorthodox holiday light display.
"It's really an art exhibition that considers how light affects mood and place," says Rachel Cothran, communications director for the Georgetown Business Improvement District.
This is the first year of what the BID hopes will become an annual tradition, where local and international artists use Georgetown's streets as a canvas for thought-provoking installations.
"Georgetown is an iconic neighborhood, everyone thinks they know it," says GLOW curator Deirdre Ehlen MacWilliams. "These public art installations and activations will draw people to Georgetown's different nooks and crannies."
For instance, Spanish artist Luisa Alvarez will place life-size figures, made from clear tape and filled with lights, throughout Georgetown. These sculptures, seemingly frozen in time as they go on dates or walk along the canal, will "serve as a beacon" to draw people through the exhibit, MacWilliams says.
Meanwhile, ghosts from workdays past will appear in the atrium of the LSM Architecture building (viewable from 3333 M St. NW). The George Mason University-based art group Re:collective videotaped LSM employees and turned them into apparitions using projectors and a fog machine.
If you head east on M Street to the Canal Square courtyard (1054 31st St. NW), you'll come to a Christmas tree turning slowly on a spit. Brooklyn-based artists Lisa Hein and Bob Seng applied tiny bits of mirror onto the (fake) tree, so it sends light scattering onto the nearby walls.
"It's sort of like being in a snow globe," Cothran says. "It's a really cheeky take on the nostalgia and the mischief of the holidays."
For another unconventional Christmas tree, head south to Washington Harbour (3000 and 3050 K St. NW), where another George Mason University group, the Floating Lab Collective, have created a 10-foot tall "tree" out of tiny houses. The pile of illuminated dwellings evokes slums and shantytowns, MacWilliams says. "It's a sculptural reflection of the housing crisis," she says.
The light sculpture with the seemingly most tenuous connection to Christmas is "Sightline," by local artist Brian Davis. Two eyeballs move and blink on facing video screens on the lawn of Grace Church (1041 Wisconsin Ave. NW). One is Davis', one is his wife's; when their gazes meet, a cable between them lights up.
"It's about connection and connecting with other people," MacWilliams says, "and isn't that what the holidays are all about?"
Georgetown, Fri.-Sun., 6-10 p.m., free.
Need more light therapy?
Stave off seasonal affective disorder with these other glowing displays.
The National Christmas Tree can be a little underwhelming — why bother with a live tree at all if you're going to obscure it with a net of lights? This year's state and territory trees are pretty great, though. The 56 mini trees feature light displays programmed by girls from around the country. Anyone, adults included, can add programs to the queue at madewithcode.com. President's Park, 15th and E streets NW; 10 a.m.-10 p.m., through Jan. 1, free.
If you get bored with the animal-shaped light displays at ZooLights, visit the National Zoo's new skunks, Clementine and Trixie, in the Small Mammal House. They're nocturnal, so this is a rare opportunity to see them at their most active. Also new this year: an animated laser show to the tune of "Frosty the Snowman." National Zoo, 3001 Connecticut Ave. NW; through Jan. 1 (except Dec. 24, 25 and 31), 5-9 p.m., free.
At Meadowlark's Winter Walk of Lights, twinkling tulips and butterflies will make you pine for spring. Complete the scavenger hunt for a special prize and then get your photo taken with Flurry the Snowman or Molasses the Gingerbread Man. Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, 9750 Meadowlark Gardens Court, Vienna; through Jan. 4, 5:30-10 p.m., $7-$14
More holiday cheer from Express:
Cirque de la Symphonie and the National Symphony Orchestra collaborate on 'Happy Holidays!'
In 'A Very Pointless Holiday Spectacular,' Mrs. Claus and the elves get the spotlight
Which local production of 'The Nutcracker' is right for you?
Sadie Dingfelder is a features writer for the Washington Post Express.
Source : http://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2014/12/11/see-georgetown-glow-zoolights-and-other-holiday-light-shows-glimmer/
