Windows on Main Installation

I signed up to be a contributor of the Windows on Main art festival in Beacon recently. It's amazing to be a part of the immensely talented group of artists in town for the first time; particularly for me because I've lived here for nearly five years. Needless to say, I had some growing pains as I worked on my project. Thanks to supportive friends, my innovative idea guru partner (Jon), the landlord of our bike shop and the larger arts community, I got it together and placed this beauty in the window of 331 Main Street.

I collected 3 televisions through craigslist from helpful but curious strangers who were happy to get rid of them. I'd recycled a few hundred tvs during the 7/25 electronics recycling day, but sure wasn't thinking of this project on that day. Once I got them and opened them up, I realized that this could be a bit dangerous. Old tvs have large capacitors that can discharge stored electricity, which can be deadly & painful both. To help me avoid touching the capacitors, I invested in a pair of insulated wire snips ($25) and a socket set with a long extender ($19) so the bolts that held the tube to the plastic frame could be unscrewed. A good investment indeed. Once the tubes were out, they looked like this.

Tubes from the tvs

The tubes have to be stored carefully until the next electronics recycling day because the end (here, pointed to the sky) is very fragile, and breakage could result in harmful gases escaping. The next step, now that I had empty plastic TV frames, was to paint them ghostly matte white.

Fabricate plexiglass "screens" and use a powered drill with a wire brush attachment to rough them up...

And then light them up from the inside using clamp lamps with CFL bulbs. Thank you, Sherie, for lending the lamps!

They went into the window like this, but I was thinking that lower energy than a CFL bulb would be better for a 6 week installation. LED bulbs would undoubtedly be perfect, as they use a fraction of what a normal bulb uses, and they put out no heat. Very important when you're using someone else's space - don't burn it down or run up it's bills! BACA assisted by stepping in as the nonprofit to receive a donation of $25 worth of LED bulbs from Home Depot in Fishkill.

Thanks Beacon Arts Community Association & Home Depot!

Here's the final product, with a gigantic mess of cords around my sign, and computer mice hanging from the curtain rod. All wires are from the now closed MLK Cultural Center in Beacon, and will be recycled in the coming months. There's an artist statement on the window that reads: This lighted sculptural piece is made from discarded and broken electronics found locally. I took out the contents of the televisions, spray painted them white, and lit them from the inside. Lighting consists of efficient LED bulbs, which are consume low energy but have high output. The purpose is to take a moment to examine what these electronics that we use daily are  made of, and to consider where they end up when we don't want them anymore. This installation is by Zero to Go, a Beacon-based group that works to make taking care of our environment convenient, continuously accessible and enjoyable.

Sneak peek for those who read this blog: the next electronics recycling day in Beacon will be on October 22, City Hall parking lot, from 9-1pm. Volunteers are welcome to assist.