A local nonprofit and a renowned French artist are bringing a huge video art project to Boston next year to celebrate the city’s history of innovation.
The installation will be open for a year, with two shows running three nights a week starting in November 2022, and is expected to cover the entire façade of the SoWa Power Station building in Boston’s South End.
It’s the brainchild of Evan Moltz and his 501(c)(3) ProjectedART. Moltz saw installations by the video painter Xavier de Richemont in Cancun, Mexico and San Antonio, Texas and was inspired to bring the concept to Boston.
“What makes this work really impactful is the fact that there’s no spoken words. It’s all just visual with a musical score,” Moltz said in an interview. “An adult or a child could watch it and everybody interprets the art in different ways.”
Most of de Richemont’s previous 150 installations have been in Europe or other parts of the world where local or provincial governments are more likely to fund public art. ProjectedArt is financing the project through sponsorships, grants and private donations.
Over the next year, the artist will be digitally mapping the front of the building, creating storyboards, video painting the 20-minute show, and writing a musical score to accompany it. Then they’ll be putting together three custom-made, high-resolution projectors to throw the images onto the building.
The innovative achievements highlighted will be relatable, inspiring, and will have improved human life, said Moltz. One example is the first use of anesthesia, which took place in Boston. Lewis Latimer, who helped Alexander Graham Bell design the telephone, will also feature.
“We want people to be able to walk away and say Boston has historically supported a culture of innovation,” Moltz said.
The project’s planners are aiming to get 300,000 people to see one of the 312 showings and say they can generate $34 million in economic output.
The building, formerly the largest power station in the world and an MBTA facility, is now an event space owned by real estate developer GTI properties.
“The South End has been quiet over the last year because of the pandemic — I’m looking forward to celebrating creativity, resilience and joy into 2022 through this extraordinary public art event," said GTI president Mario Nicosia in a statement.
