Mirror Mirror by SOFTlab, a New York-based design studio led by artist and architect Michael Szivos, was a site-specific, temporary installation on view through November 2019. The project aimed to encourage visitors to experience art and explore and enjoy the new public plaza and civic space.
The artwork was programmed to respond to sound with light, allowing visitors to interact with the artwork and affect its appearance using their voices and bodies. The mirrored exterior reflects the urban environment, the river, and visitors themselves but transforms from reflective to transparent when activated. The interior’s surface was tinted with full spectrum color. When illuminated, the interior panels remain mirrored, creating an infinite, colorful reflection that Szivos compares to “a forest of light.”
See visitor pictures and share your own via #mirrormirroralx.
The materials and interactive nature of the artwork referenced the Fresnel lens used at Alexandria’s historic Jones Point Lighthouse. It was the most advanced lens technology of the 1800s and used a series of prisms to concentrate the light source and direct it into a narrow horizontal beam that was projected outward. As a lighthouse connects land to water, Mirror Mirror visually blended the waterfront, the fabric of Old Town, and the activity of pedestrians in the new park.
This project was the inaugural work for the Site See: New Views in Old Town public art series. Alexandria's Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities, through the Division of Arts and Culture, seeks to amplify Alexandria’s reputation as an arts destination with world-class artwork that captures that public’s imagination. SOFTlab was selected for this project by a stakeholder Task Force and approved by the Commission for the Arts. Both groups also approved the design of the artwork.
About SOFTlab
SOFTlab is a New York City-based design studio created by Michael Szivos shortly after receiving a graduate degree in architecture from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University. The studio has since been involved in the design and production of projects across almost every medium, from digitally fabricated large-scale sculpture, to interactive design, to immersive digital video installations. Through the studio's unique blend of backgrounds as designers, artists, architects and educators they are able to approach every project from a fresh perspective to create rich spatial, graphic, interactive and visual experiences. By mixing research, creativity and technology with a strong desire to make working fun, SOFTlab attempts to create new and unique experiences.
Free Public Performance Series
Waterfront Park comes alive with a series of original site-specific performances in conversation with the sound-responsive, interactive installation Mirror Mirror.
Music, voices and ambient sound activate Mirror Mirror’s enclosed LED tubes to produce a panoramic forest of light. The installation casts brilliant rainbow hues, allowing the performers to interact with the installation and affect its appearance using their instruments, voices and bodies. (See and post images and videos via #mirrormirrorALX.)
All performances are free and feature lawn seating. Lawn chairs and blankets are encouraged. Please leave pets at home. Waterfront Park is located at 1 King Street. For reasonable disability accommodation, contact arts@alexandriava.gov or 703.746.5592, Virginia Relay 711.
MUSIC: DAVID SCHULMAN
Violinist and composer David Schulman’s original site-specific score Fifth Order is named for the fifth-order Fresnel lens that for decades cast its light from Alexandria's Jones Point Lighthouse across the waters of the Potomac. The performance will vary significantly each time. He will perform with other musicians—trumpeter, saxophonist, or vocalist—who will reflect and refract the site’s natural, human and technological contexts. As the ambient light changes with the seasons, so too will the music’s relationship with the sound-responsive lights on Mirror Mirror.
- These dates have been postponed due to the heat advisory.
Saturday, July 20; 9 p.m.
Now: Sunday, July 28; 8 p.m.
Joined by Tillery
Sunday, July 21; 8 p.m.
Now: Thursday, August 15; 9 p.m.
Joined by Bonnie Lander - Friday, August 9; 9 p.m.
Joined by Tillery
Saturday, August 10; 9 p.m.
Joined by Sarah Marie Hughes
Rain date: Sunday, August 11; 9 p.m. - Saturday, October 5; 8 p.m.
Joined by Sarah Marie Hughes
Sunday, October 6; 8 p.m.
Joined by Bonnie Lander
Rain date: Saturday, October 19; 8 p.m.
MOVEMENT: ORANGE GROVE DANCE
Orange Grove Dance is exploring movement and sound within and around Mirror Mirror, from visceral virtuosic movements, to stomping, clapping, singing and custom-built music scores. Artistic Directors Colette Krogol and Matt Reeves are building site-specific movements that explore both the installation’s and audience’s relationship to land and river to tap into deep relationships that communities have with the spaces they inhabit.
- Friday, September 6; 8 p.m.
Saturday, September 7; 6 and 8 p.m. - Friday, September 13; 8 p.m.
Saturday, September 14; 6 and 8 p.m.
Schulman and Orange Grove Dance were selected through a regional open call seeking performing artists and arts groups in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. They have been researching and exploring Mirror Mirror and Waterfront Park to develop their new performances.
ABOUT DAVID SCHULMAN
The music of violinist and composer David Schulman has been described as “mysterious and beautiful” by The Washington Post. A 2018 Music Fellow of ART OMI, Schulman wrote and recorded the theme music for NPR’s The Big Listen and BBC’s Americana. He has composed numerous scores for modern dance and performed live at the Kennedy Center. For more than a decade, Schulman has performed programs at leading galleries and museums interpreting art into music. In 2019, he launched the ARTSOUNDS series at the Hirshhorn Museum, with a performance with/in Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s interactive Pulse Tank installation. David also created and produced the award-winning Musicians in Their Own Words public radio series (NPR, APM, PRI). For more info see: quietlifemotel.com.
ABOUT ORANGE GROVE DANCE
Orange Grove Dance, founded in 2007 by Colette Krogol and Matt Reeves, is built on the ideals of integrating dance, design, film, and movement with all communities. Their work has been produced for gallery dance-cinema installations, film festivals, the Dupont Underground tunnels, city streets, public parks, black box theatres, botanic gardens, and concert stages ranging in location from the small medieval streets of Rauma, Finland, to the Terrace Theater at The Kennedy Center. They are currently working on a site-specific performance for the U.S. Botanic Garden. Krogol and Reeves hold Masters’ of Fine Arts in dance from the University of Maryland and Bachelors’ of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Florida. For more info see: orangegrovedance.com.
AN ANNUAL SERIES OF TEMPORARY PUBLIC ART INSTALLATIONS AT WATERFRONT PARK
The City of Alexandria through the Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities' Arts division, works to boost Alexandria’s reputation as an arts destination with world-class artwork that is unlike anything that can be experienced in the region.
Site See: New Views in Old Town highlights Waterfront Park as a civic space, fostering community engagement and interactions with temporary installations. The artwork, which rotates annually, is informed by the historic waterfront and neighboring community. The compelling, unique art attracts repeat visits from the metropolitan area and beyond.
About Public Art in Alexandria
To learn more about public art in Alexandria, you can review the City Council approved Public Art Implementation Plan & Policy, or learn more about other public art projects in Alexandria.
Visit alexandriava.gov/PublicArt or follow @alexartsoffice on Instagram and Twitter. Add to the conversation with #artsALX.