WASHINGTON – Your final chance to see a unique outdoor art displayed on the exterior of the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is Sunday night.
The outdoor installation by artist Doug Aitken, called “SONG 1,” uses 11 high definition video projectors to blend moving images around the exterior of the Hirshhorn.
The images move to the pop song “I Only Have Eyes for You,” made popular by The Flamingos for the 1973 film “American Graffiti.”
The installation started on March 22, and was originally supposed to end on May 13, but was later extended to May 20.
“SONG 1” explores the concept of “liquid architecture,” reports Daily Good, that transforms museum architect Gordon Bunshaft’s heavy design into a moving work of art.
The film projected onto the exterior of the museum will move to 15 different covers of the song, including one by Beck.
“Aitken’s work combines nature, urban landscape, cinema and music, according to the Hirshhorn’s deputy director and chief curator Kerry Brougher.
“With ‘SONG 1’ the artist develops a new vocabulary to turn the world of the moving image inside out. He directs the tempo of life around the museum,” says Brougher, who organized the exhibit.
“‘SONG 1′ can appear as a single image, but one that can rotate freely or seem to continually rise toward the sky, transforming viewers’ perception of this well-known, massive building and their relationship to it, according to the “museum’s website page on the exhibit.
The ‘SONG 1’ exhibit is one of the signature projects organized for the Hirshhorn’s 40th anniversary in 2014.
To see what it looks like, watch this video from Smithsonian Magazine:
WTOP’s Megan Cloherty contributed to this report. Follow WTOP on Twitter.
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