Nearly 19,000 tiny illuminated globes created a sea of light at Manhattan’s Freedom Plaza on Wednesday evening. This glittering spectacle along the East River, Field of Light, was created by artist Bruce Munro and is presented by the Soloviev Foundation. Munro’s installation covers more than six acres from 38th to 41st Street. All guests are welcome to experience this immersive work of art for free!
Field of Light at Freedom Plaza is made up of 18,750 lowlight, fiber-optic stemmed spheres that were painstakingly hand-placed on-site for a truly site-specific result. Members of the Bruce Munro Studio team based in the United Kingdom, and volunteers from the local community in collaboration with The HOPE Program worked together to install all of the lights.
This installation at Freedom Plaza marks Munro’s first in New York City. “A New York City installation of Field of Light has been a longtime professional aspiration. It is incredibly humbling to watch Freedom Plaza come to life with such purpose and enthusiasm,” Munro said. His fields of light have previously been featured at sites across the world including Australia, South Korea, England, Scotland, and multiple U.S. states.
It was in Australia’s Uluru desert that he first had the idea for such a work. “While I was traveling in Central Australia many years ago, I had this incredible experience of just feeling alive and connected to the landscape around me. I wanted to create a field of light that, like the dormant seed in a dry desert, would quietly wait until darkness falls and then bloom with gentle rhythms of light,” Munro said.
Field of Light at Freedom Palace will be on view for 12 months and will welcome guests free of charge on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings from 5pm to 9pm, with extended holiday hours to include December 24, 26 and 27 as well as New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day. Visitors are encouraged to visit fieldoflightnyc.com to schedule their complimentary time.
Nicole Saraniero is the Insider-in-Chief at Untapped New York, leading our Untapped New York Insiders membership program. Nicole graduated from Hofstra University with a Bachelor of Science in Televis
