A unique art exhibition was just unveiled in the Pearl Street Triangle in Dumbo, Brooklyn. FlipNYC, the world’s largest solar-powered flipbooks, are ready for play. Passersby can try their hands at turning the wheel on the side themselves, flipping a display of illustrations faster and faster until they blend into a miniature animation. The sketches of buildings transform into a bird in flight, then a tree, then a town again. Each flipbook installation measures over five feet tall with hundreds of individual images.
The idea for the installation comes from Chee Kit-Lai, director of London Mobile Studios, a design studio in the United Kingdom. Kit-Lai first submitted the design to a competition held by Beam Center, a community initiative that runs programs in schools throughout the city. But the real work for the project came from a group of twelve 15 to 18 year old students from five different New York high schools. The teens were responsible for the execution of the project, helping to construct the structure and bring the design to life. They also hand selected the artwork from Ebony Bolt, a local artist responsible for “The Bolt Diaries”, drawings of everyday New Yorkers on public transportation.
As a community-involved, hands-on installation, FlipNYC self-describes as “urban storytelling.” It allows the young designers to learn material construction skills, while opening a channel for youth to communicate with the New York city environment through art. Stop by and animate the beautiful illustrations yourself with a crank of the wheel.
