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Installation
Winner of the 14th Annual Times Square Love and Design Competition
Sponsored by Times Square Arts
Presented in partnership with The Museum of Arts and Design
Fabrication by IDEKO
From afar, Bloom resembles a pavilion — a circular roof supported by a series of interlocked pink and white PVC pipes. From above, it blooms from the center with an arrangement of pixelated hearts. And from below, it becomes a buoyant cloudscape where the pipes overhead, descending to different heights, become vaulted portals allowing light to peek through from all directions. The structure channels the brightness of Times Square and showers down rays of light that greet visitors once they enter the structure, serving as a reminder of the fleeting moments of happiness and joy that persevere even in the shroud of darkness.
At night, surrounding billboards, buildings, and headlights cast a constantly changing spectrum of colors and light onto Bloom, creating a pattern that shifts direction, elongates, and shortens throughout the day. The centers of each heart cluster create the supportive cores that hold the project aloft, and the strength of the project’s structure comes from each small piece acting as a vital connector, revealing how important grounding forces and networks are for us to find lightness.
Bloom is an homage to the collective love for humanity — a shared experience that creates a sheltered canopy in the middle of Times Square — for all New Yorkers and visitors alike. Embodying both human fragility and strength, the work reminds us that we are all bound together, each with the responsibility to uplift and support one another so we can float together.
Location: Duffy Square, New York, NY
Completion: 2022
Photo Credit: Maria Baranova/ Courtesy Times Square Arts