Beam Stream 2

For Ladew Gardens Glow 2024, we were asked to create something similar to Beam Stream (2023), and who doesn’t like a sequel so we preposed Beam Stream 2. This one had to be free standing in the meadow and couldn’t puncture the ground or have be spread out enough that it might kill the grass. Inspiration was the things I used to sketch in the margin of my school notes as a kid, but with glowing ribbons. In the Beam Stream are various sea creatures made from old plastic bottles hiding under a raft of floating ribbons.

Like Beam Stream, this also works with crowd additions. The photos above show the original installation. Each night, participants would add ribbons where ever they dared. A staff member would clear any unsafe obstructions, but for the most part, there were no rules.

The changes that emerge night to night are the actual art piece. We noticed a drop ceiling develop as most of the additions were done by children so they built where they could reach. The legs in the corners also got lots of additions.

Reuse of materials has been a central part of the Beam Stream series. There is always guilt using plastic materials, so it’s important to get as much use as possible out of every inch of material. We collect all the ribbon after each event; they’re easy to spot with a blacklight flashlight, even buried in the grass. Bagged up these ribbons form a pretty big knot so they’re really only useful in short pieces. These short pieces are tied onto mesh netting reused from the LED curtains we’ve taken out of service. The goal is to make hundreds of square feet of these ribbon curtains and have the installations grow over time.