Wicker Park Holiday Art Installation Celebrates Exuberance While You Wave

By Marielle Shaw in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 3, 2013 9:40PM

Wicker Park at Milwaukee, North and Damen by Piathe Photography

Starting this Friday, visitors to Wicker Park's six corners intersection of Milwaukee, Damen and North Avenues will have more to look at than hipsters in winter finery. The Wicker Park-Bucktown SSA #33 and Collaboraction have teamed up to run a nightly video projection installation which they are calling “I Celebrate Exuberance While You Wave.”

The installation projects live video of passersby along with lines of text and poetry that are addressed to them, projecting the images sky high onto 3 landmark buildings in the area. It’s run by a live performer every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night between 5 and 9 p.m. The goal of the installation, says Collaboraction’s Artistic Director Anthony Moseley, is to “create a warm relationship between the viewers, the poem and the architecture that simulates the unspoken emotions we feel but do not say when we have a shared experience with someone.”

Collaboraction is a Chicago based arts organization currently in its 18th year. They create theatrical and art based experiences and have worked with more than 2500 artists to create 60 different productions for 100,000 audience members to date. They’ve recently moved to the historic Flat Iron Building and the reception for this holiday art installation will be Friday Dec. 6 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on the third floor of the building. The event also celebrates the 2013 Orange Walls Mural Project. You can preview the installation on Youtube here.