Bars of colored lights now trace the outlines and suggest the levels of the distinctive, sail-like fa\u00e7ade of Pittsburgh\u2019s August Wilson African American Cultural Center.<\/p>\n
The new work, titled \u201cGive Light to the Whole Circumference,\u201d is by Pittsburgh\u2019s Rainbow Serpent Collective, and it\u2019s more than eye candy for passersby on Liberty Avenue.<\/p>\n
The artists say the piece, which officially premieres with a celebration at the Center on Thursday night, was designed to communicate key themes from two plays by the building\u2019s Pulitzer Prize-winning namesake.<\/p>\n
And Center president and CEO Janis Burley said the light installation also highlights the landmark center\u2019s distinctive design, by architect Allison Williams, just in time for the 17th anniversary of the day it opened to the public, Sept. 17, 2009.<\/p>\n
‘A luminous vessel’<\/p>\n
It was with that anniversary in mind that Burley contacted Rainbow Serpent, which consists of Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna, whose other big architectural light installation here illuminated Downtown\u2019s \u201cThree Sisters\u201d bridges in 2024.<\/p>\n
Redd and Owunna immersed themselves in Wilson\u2019s plays.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started weaving together a lot of ideas and started thinking about how we could turn the building itself into a storyteller,\u201d Redd said.<\/p>\n
One of the two programmed 10-minute displays was inspired by \u201cGem of the Ocean,\u201d Wilson\u2019s Century Cycle play set in the Hill District in 1904. It\u2019s titled \u201cSail the Road of Heaven,\u201d and it\u2019s meant to turn the Center into \u201ca luminous vessel journeying through the waters of memory\u201d toward the City of Bones, the mythical place of ancestry conjured by Wilson\u2019s iconic character Aunt Ester, according to press materials.<\/p>\n
The second display, \u201cComing and Going,\u201d is inspired by Wilson\u2019s \u201cJoe Turner\u2019s Come and Gone,\u201d in which the drifter and seeker Herald Loomis takes a journey toward self-realization. That display, said Redd, is \u201casking how does a person who\u2019s been fragmented become whole enough to stand again?\u201d<\/p>\n
A third 10-minute slot is reserved for unique light displays marking community celebrations like Juneteenth, Pride, big sporting events and even the Center\u2019s Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival, whose 2026 incarnation is also this week.<\/p>\n
Technical and systems support for \u201cGive Light\u201d was provided by SPRK.<\/p>\n