LoDo Lights Public Art Collaboration
“Current 3 (cubed)”
WHO?
I, Diane Huntress, photographer based in Denver, Colorado.
“While walking down a small street in the old center of Turin, Italy on a December night, Diane Huntress discovered a darker side street strung with lights forming words from an Italian poem. It was an installation of the successful Luci d’Artista.”
What a wonderful discovery!” – Mitja Prelovsek
Editor-in-Chief
Enlighter Magazine
WHY?
In 2007, Our artful minded Mayor, John Hickenlooper, had asked organizations in Denver to create events to celebrate the upcoming 150th Anniversary of the city. Hickenlooper has gone on to elected offices Governor of Colorado and, at the time of this writing, U.S. Senator of Colorado.
In a Board meeting, I answered (naively) and proposed the idea of temporary, contemporary light art media in six urban exterior spaces in LoDo. My contact in Torino (Turin), Italy, sent me a beautiful book (Luci d’Artista) that I could show and we produced a power point presentation for a light art installation from the images in my collection. The neighborhood architects, planners, businesses and residents had spent the last 20 years fighting to preserve the character of the district. They loved the idea, but I needed to achieve the ‘official approval’ of the Lower Downtown Design Review Board (Landmark Preservation) and every imaginable City department. After a couple presentations they approved the idea even without knowing the artist’s concept!
WHERE IS IT?
Site: Manny’s Bridge in Lower Downtown Denver, Colorado,
an Historic Neighborhood District known as LoDo. It is at the end of Wynkoop Street where people cross Cherry Creek to 14th Street and can continue on to Ball Arena.
The old steel railroad bridge is named Manny’s Bridge after local character, Manny Salzman, who helped to save the bridge from destruction and save it for pedestrians. The steel bridge is adjacent to the place where the City was founded in 1858. Architects love it. The City owns the bridge. There are a series of retired old, steel bridges along Cherry Creek continuing on to the Platte River.
HOW?
We named the project, Lodo Lights, which was my inspiration. We organized a non-profit, private grass roots collaborative project to commission the installations. The neighborhood organization, LoDoNA, was the fiscal conduit for the project at the beginning.
My goal was to manage the installation with the highest ethical and stewardship standards possible.
Through my colleague at the City of Denver Arts and Culture office, Rudi Cerri and Denver art consultant, Carol Keller, we got the approvals and money to finish the project. We had done our artist search fairly and were able to convince the City of that. We had selected several significant light artists. The City organized a panel of artists, City engineers, cultural people, neighbors and administrators to select the winning Colorado artist, Virginia Folkestad. Virginia gathered a lighting design team to bring her vision to reality.
WHAT?
The Light Art Installation.
“CURRENT3 (cubed) by sculptor Virginia Folkestad is a site-specific, interactive light Installation that encourages play and collaboration. Installations modify the way a particular space is experienced. And, this Installation is meant to give users of Wynkoop Bridge, in Denver, Colorado an immersive experience; a change from the usual, familiar occurrence of traveling across the bridge. Passersby become aware of their place in time and space.
As with many examples of Installation Art, this work invites the visitor to take control and become a participant in the completion of the work by turning the bridge into a kinetic sculpture. The light that appears in response to movement, invites one to explore further by continuing to cross the bridge. Concurrently, projections of drawings onto the deck of the bridge give a nod to its railroad history and itʼs significance in the development of Denver.”
– Virginia Folkestad
Current3 Operation
20090306 – The dedication.
Three stages of color operation –
A) breathing lavender (LEDs ) constantly until (the lavender runs from brighter, cycling back to dimmer while shifting colors slightly)
B) trigger to red only (LED) – 5 second cycle C)
C) then blue only (LED) – 5 seconds then
D) pattern projection white light for 20 second cycle + return to (LED) breathing at the same time.
=That way the patterns are projected in both the red light and breathing light to make the installation look more dynamic.
Stages of technical operation caused by interaction:
- sensor + beam emitter triggers relay
- the relay triggers the LED followed by the pattern projector as programmed at the computer server
August 2025
Current 3 (cubed) has now been included in the renowned Denver Public Art Collection. The world famous Red Rocks Amphitheater is also managed by the same Denver Arts and Venues.
The original, temporary Current 3 (cubed) public art installation is officially ongoing due to its popularity with visitors and the residents of surrounding neighborhoods. While it is ongoing, occasionally light fixtures need replacement.
We are honored to be included in this great book,
SuperLux: Smart Light Art, Design & Architecture for Cities
by Davina Jackson
First published in hardcover in 2015 by Thames & Hudson
Website of the original project in Turin, Italy
Luci d’Artista
https://www.
I have been visiting and photographing the amazing Luci d’Artista since it began in 1998. They will present their 29th Edition this coming Winter 2025-2026.