Navy Yard Garden & Art Inc. Announces a new Night Sky Project
Artist Sohalia Mosbeh
Special to the Patriot-Bridge
The Edward Ingersoll Browne Trust Fund has given a $54,000 award to the Navy Yard Garden & Art, Inc. (NYGA) in support of an ornamental lighting installation titled Navy Yard Night Sky, which is displayed in the amphitheater at Shipyard Park, Charlestown’s largest public park. A second gift came from the Norma Ricci Trust.
At the heart of the amphitheater, the permanent exhibit consists of four large panels of programmable mesh lighting installed between the roof beams on the second floor of the amphitheater, which is adjacent to the park’s beloved water fountain.
Two artists were commissioned for the inaugural year of the piece: Zach Lieberman, who teaches at the MIT Media Lab and Sohaila Mosbeh, an interdisciplinary experience artist. Navy Yard Garden & Art will commission several artists over the life of the installation. Sohaila Mosbeh’s piece “The Myth of Nut” is currently running nightly from dusk to dawn.
Sohaila Mosbeh states, “The light installation is heavily inspired by the natural elements located at the site, such as the specular waterfront during the day as well as the soft glow of the night’s sky. I was so struck by how the Charlestown Navy Yard is heavily reminiscent of the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, Egypt, a city full of historical artifacts from ancient Egypt to ancient Greece. Combining these site similarities together is the inspiration behind picking the Egyptian goddess of the sky and heavens, Nut (pronounced ‘newt’) as the central figure of the piece. When viewing Navy Yard Night Sky, look out for Nut, who is represented by an oval that expands and contracts and shape shifts while she dances.
You will also see twinkling lights which represent the real location of the stars in space: based directly on information Mosbeh collected from Nasa’s open data portal. The abstracted motion of swirling colors illustrates an arched bend of the milky way. Read more about "The Myth of Nut".