Date: May 5, 2008

Contact: Jessica Cusick, Cultural Affairs Division, (310) 458-8350 

Artists and Sponsors Announced for Santa Monica’s Glow: International and Local Artists Will Glow All Night!  

Internationally renowned artists Usman Haque and Shih Chieh Huang have been announced as the producers of the two keynote commissions for Glow, Santa Monica’s July 19 dusk-to-dawn art extravaganza.  London-based Haque was introduced to the community at a reception honoring the festival’s artists and sponsors on Thursday, May 1, at Santa Monica’s Michael’s Restaurant.  Along with hosts Michael and Kim McCarty, Santa Monica council members and arts commissioners greeted many of the participating artists along with event sponsors and donors at this intimate evening.

Haque’s commissioned artwork for Glow will combine an array of cutting edge technologies to create a magical symphony of natural resources and audience participation that will be visible from many vantage points in the Glow zone.  The exact nature of Haque’s commissioned work for Glow is still under wraps but Artistic Director Marc Pally assures, “Beginning at sunset on July 19 and all the way through the dawn the next morning, spectators will be able to see the beach anew through the eyes of an amazing artist.”

Shih Chieh Huang’s art installations use mass produced items to create enchanting and somewhat unnerving artworks.  Recently, Huang served as an artist-in-residence for the Smithsonian Institution where he studied marine animals and plants capable of creating their own light in the darkness of the ocean depths.  For Glow, Huang will use his newfound knowledge to turn the bike path beneath the Santa Monica Pier into a Neptunian lair of luminescent sea life.

French artist Anne Deleporte, sponsored by the French Consulate-General, will fashion a unique multi-media installation incorporating the historic cannons in Palisades Park. John Baldessari signed on early to Glow, lending his image “The Intersection Series: Two Persons Dancing/Beach Scene” as part of Glow’s identity.  Glow is further enhanced through the participation of the Glow Network including  L.A. Commons an organization  that engages communities in the creation of art for public spaces, Machine Project whose self –declared purpose is to “encourage the heroic experiments of the gracefully over-ambitious” and SASSAS (The Society for the Activation of Social Space through Art and Sound) in collaboration with Dublab, which serves as a catalyst for the creation, presentation and recognition of experimental art and sound in Los Angeles.

“While museums and galleries are fast asleep, Santa Monica will Glow with an entirely new way to experience art’” says Pally.  Ensuring the total transformation of the beach, Santa Monica Pier and the Palisades, another dozen of the region’s innovators have been commissioned to create site-specific work that will engage viewers for the entire night of Glow’s debut.  Individual artists Grant Davis, Frank Rozasy, Peter Tolkin, and Jiacong Yan, along with teams made up of Michael Kontopoulos and Nova Jian, Brian Howe and Freya Bardell, Marcos Lutyens and his associates from Materials and Applications, Caroline Maxwell and Tal Yizrael, Elena Mary Siff and Dave Quick, and artist collectives Greenmeme and Lustre (Dmitry Kmelnitsky and Kalim Chan) will make the night truly enchanting.  “The combined talents of all the participating artists will set an extremely high standard for future Glow festivals,” says Cultural Affairs Manager Jessica Cusick.

The City of Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Arts Foundation are joined in making Glow possible by a special group of very generous sponsors and donors, each making a significant contribution to what will surely become Santa Monica’s signature cultural event.  Santa Monica’s Norton Family Foundation was the first to sign on as a Sparkle sponsor with many leading local agencies following.  Bayside District Corporation, the Consulate-General of France, the Durfee Foundation, Fieldmouse Foundation, Loews Santa Monica, the Looker Family Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the Pier Restoration Corporation, Santa Monica Convention and Visitors Bureau and Starbucks comprise the Glitter category of benefactors.  In the Twinkle group of donors the City is proud to have the support of Big Imagination Group, Bonhams and Butterfields, Pamela Burton and Company, Department of Graphic Sciences, the Audrey and Sydney Irmas Foundation, Fred Kurata, MD and East/West Eye Institute, Michael’s Restaurant and Rachel Pally.

GLOW Calendar Information 

Event title: Glow

Location: Santa Monica Pier and adjacent locations

Date: July 19, 2008   

Time: dusk to dawn

Admission cost: FREE

Public Event Information: 310/458.8350; www.glowsantamonica.org

Sponsors/Hosts:

City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division

Santa Monica Arts Foundation

The Norton Family Foundation