Students behind unique downtown light display

A creative light display will roam the Downtown Crossing neighborhood just in time for the holiday season this Thursday, December 11, with help from Performing Arts students and faculty.

Sean Pieroth ’15 and Steven Wilkinson ’16—with the supervision of Performing Arts faculty members David Colfer and Scott Pinkney—helped design the lighting program for The Light Rover, a moveable light source placed on wheels that will be used to illuminate unique architecture in the Downtown Crossing neighborhood between 5:00 and 6:00 pm on December 11.

“It looks really good on our part and it’s a really cool project,” Pieroth said. “We’ve picked locations in Downtown Crossing that have architectural elements that people might not notice just passing through.”

“It’s a new piece of technology,” Colfer said. “There may be some pieces that [the students] are familiar with, but it’s being applied in a new way. And I think nothing is better for a designer than that.”

Designed by artist Ross Miller, The Light Rover is a customized bicycle with attached lighting instruments and a control board. It will be moved over the course of the hour to three different locations in order to highlight the nearby architecture.

The Light Rover will start at the Tremont Baptist Temple at 88 Tremont Street, and then move to 45 Milk Street and 100 Federal Street.

“I think this is a great way for the students to collaborate with a visual artist and learn from him,” Colfer said. “They also get to work with him in a medium and in a way in which they’re not being trained here, but we can connect them to.”

Music from local artists will be played during the display on December 11.

The project was facilitated by the Downtown Crossing Business Improvement District.

Miller has installed similar displays in other locations around Boston and Cambridge.