Client

Location: Beacon, NY, United States

Completion date: 2015

Artwork budget: $700,000

Project Team

Artist

Melissa McGill

Constellation

Industry Resource

Adam Demchak

Polich Tallix Fine Art Foundry

Architect

Kurt Hirschberg

Jan Hird Pokorny Associates

Industry Resource

Jeremy Pyles

Niche Modern

Industry Resource

Deke Hazirjian, Lighting Designer

Lighting Designer

Industry Resource

Thomas Tyler

Times Square Lighting

Industry Resource

Alberto Sid

MAF Technologies Corp. /Electronic Design and System Architecture

Overview

A new constellation emerges nightly over the Bannerman castle ruin on a mysterious island in the Hudson River, 50 miles north of New York City. Melissa McGill’s sculptural light-based public art project, Constellation, launched in June 2015 and is on view through 2017.

Goals

This constellation connects past and present through this inspiring light-based public art project and brings new energy to this majestic part of the Hudson River, and the Hudson Highlands State Park.

Process

Artist Melissa McGill proposed this project to the New York State Office of Parks Recreation and Preservation independently. McGill collaborated with a experienced team to translate this proposal into reality.

Additional Information

Every evening, as the sun goes down, starry lights emerge one by one with the stars of the night sky. Hovering around the perimeter of the castle ruin, these lighted points refer to features of the structure still standing, as well as those details which no longer exist—creating a new constellation connecting past and present through this large-scale sculptural light-based public art project.