Next time you're on the LES having wine and dinner at Bacaro, stop outside PROJECT No. 8 to checkout their light installation. You may have peeked in their windows already after hours and not even been aware of what was going on.

"Nothing happens.

All lights inside PROJECT No. 8 are turned off after hours. Nothing unusual happens.

Everytime anybody stops in front of the windows something may go on inside. Something unpredictable - sometimes nothing that anyone would notice. But noticed or not, anyone will leave a passing trace in time and space short as a breath.

Each passerby activates a hidden sensor mounted near the windows without realizing it. The data generated by the sensor starts a hidden process inside the space. Following certain rules but unpredictable some or all luminaires of the store light up for a dedicated duration and intensity. After a couple of seconds everything is back to normal.

The light installation is no physical additon to the existing structure or architecutre. It uses nothing but the architecture and the fluorescent lights of the existing space. It is more like a spatial code; it programs a dedicated site by light and no-light. A certain interdependency between a passerby and the behaviour of the installation arises and dissolves – sometimes without people becoming aware that they are part of the game.

The light installation was designed by the German Architect and artist Christoph M Wagner who has created a number of light and land art projects in the urban realm for and with the Berlin group realities:united. The artistic programming and soft-ware development was done by Berlin-based firms thismedia and KONZEPTLICHT.

Technically the light installation is based on a central control unit that has been custom made for the project and processes incoming data according to a prepro-grammed logarithm. It generates individual data-signals for each incident. This data gets translated to the standard DALI protocol and controls the dimmable ballasts of each T8-fluorescent light. It is the first time this has been used in the United States."

Hot. Make sure to stop by one night. And definitely stop by once during the day too. The shop has a great selection of clothes and accessories.