Light Rails is a permanent LED light art installation in Birmingham, Alabama by artist Bill FitzGibbons, as funded by the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham‘s Community Catalyst Fund donors in partnership with REV Birmingham. The spectacular spectrum of colors illuminate an underpass at 18th street in downtown Birmingham, adding a brilliant bit of artistic life to the community.
The project, which is only the first of many public light art installations to come for Birmingham's city center, boasts thousands of LED's and 250 computerized units that can each be programmed separately. FitzGibbons says, “There are 16 million color options in the light fixtures, so you're only limited by your imagination.” The intention with this kind of visual display is to draw the eye with a vibrant, playful, inviting, and attractive architectural landscape.
The light artist says, “Projects [like this], across many cities, demonstrate that the creative economy which produces things such as public art has a direct influence on how citizens feel about those urban areas. When you do this, you see boarded up buildings that are turned into condominiums, and when you start attracting residential activity, that attracts restaurants and retail, and then the urban center becomes an exciting vibrant place where people want to live.”
