The Hawthorne 100 created by Tucker Teutsch and the PDX Bridge Festival Portland, Oregon is one of our 2010 Grant recipients.

The Hawthorne 100 was created to celebrate the centennial of the nation’s oldest working vertical lift bridge, this project turns the Hawthorne Bridge in Portland, OR into a kinetic art installation. A solar-powered lighting display, installed for the duration of the festival, makes use of interactive elements to transform the bridge’s traffic into a catalyst for moving light. For one hour on the night of Saturday, July 31, the Hawthorne Bridge will raise to reveal a projection screen stretched across the displaced area of the lift span. The screen provides a framework to give a visual tour of Portland—who we are, where we’ve come from, and where we’re going—using gathered media from the last 100 years, text-based interactions from our audience, and captured images from the event. This display, produced in conjunction with a free concert on the Morrison Bridge, will be visible from neighboring bridges, both banks of the river, and downtown buildings. The Hawthorne Bridge Centennial Project will be a spectacle to remember! Estimated audience: 40,000+

Opening event

“Hit the lights!”
Where: Hawthorne Bridge
When: July 24 – August 7, 2010
What: “Hit the Lights” on July 24th at 10:00 p.m. is the opening for the lighting and fabric installation on the Hawthorne Bridge, possibly the largest art installation in Portland history. The lights make use of programmable and environmentally-aware lighting technology to interact with the nightly vehicle and bike traffic on the bridge. The lights accentuate 60 panels of fabric installed in the bridge trusses and lift towers, turning the structure into a wash of color and moving light and marking the rhythm of commuter traffic as it moves across the bridge. The installation will be visible for the 15 days of the festival, but there will be a ceremonial opening night event—when we “hit the lights!”