Photos: Colorful Light Installation Under Wabash Avenue CTA Tracks Tested

By Rachel Cromidas in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 5, 2016 6:10PM

The latest step in an effort to beautify a stretch of Wabash Avenue darkened by the CTA's Loop train tracks is finally underway.

The Wabash Lights, a Loop art installation funded in part through Kickstarter, was beta-tested Thursday night. According to the creators, the beta-test lights will remain up for the next several months while they troubleshoot and raise money to fund a larger installation over 2 full blocks of Wabash Avenue.

The multi-colored lights are made of over 5,000 programmable LED light tubes, according to co-creator Jack Newell, who spoke to Chicagoist last year about the project.

"Public art is usually funded by a few and created by one," Newell said. "We thought, what if we actually created a piece of public art that was asked for by the public, paid for by the public and, most importantly, created by the public."