LumenARRT! Update – Spring 2024

LumenARRT! is a project of the Artists’ Rapid Response Team (ARRT!). We work through the Union of Maine Visual Artists (UMVA), a members’ organization that advocates for artists and furthers the work of progressive non-profits in the state of Maine. Our video projections create a visual voice for these organizations and like electronic graffiti, bring awareness to issues of social, economic, and environmental justice.

Winter 2024 brought many issues to the hearts of Mainers as well as to the streets of Maine. Given the fact that 2024 is an election year with much at stake, the LumenARRT! crew decided that there will be a focus on voting, while leaving the door open to responding to events and local campaigns of progressive groups that seek our participation. With a library of videos and images from our years of work to draw from, we created projections that use some of the “greatest hits” that highlight issues that will be impacted in the 2024 elections. Our selfie signs, props, and GOBOs (stationary light projections) provide lots of ways for passers-by to interact and turn up the volume through social media and antics both playful and serious.

During Portland’s First Friday Artwalk on 1 March 2024, LumenARRT! unveiled the new video on Mechanics’ Hall with the help of the Ideal Maine Social Aid and Sanctuary Band and the League of Women Voters. It was a celebration of democracy and a grand time was had by all!

So Many Reasons to Vote from Geoffrey Leighton on Vimeo.

On a much more somber note, in Monument Square on 12 February 2024, the Maine Coalition for Palestine brought people together to support emergency action for humanitarian aid. LumenARRT! joined in to amplify their message.

 

We look forward to seeing you on the street! You can find more images of our work by clicking here.

 

Image at top: LumenARRT! projection at Portland’s First Friday Artwalk, 1 March 2024, to get out the vote!