CONTEXTS
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Throughout its history, the Tobin has played many complex roles: An inspiration for what’s possible in massive infrastructure projects, a parable for displacement and exclusion, and a testament to the power of cooperation in urban renewal. Through all of this, it has preserved a civic record of our collective longing to communicate…
In developing Illuminated Tobin for our community today, we are becoming students of the bridge’s history. We seek to learn from the lessons of…
…indigenous populations along the Mystic River (“Missi-Tuk”) who preceded colonial settlement of the waterfront. Their cultivation and stewardship of the land was violently disrupted by colonial forces and the rush to industrialization, which is represented, in part, by the presence of the bridge.
…early residents of Chelsea and Boston who aspired to meaningfully connect their shores through several hundred years of innovative infrastructure projects. For them, a bridge held the hopes of prosperity and connection to the wider world.
…immigrant and working-class communities of the 1940s and 50s, who, despite protestation, were forcibly driven from their homes to make way for the bridge’s construction.
…civic leaders, activists, planners, organizers, and artists who have drawn inspiration from the Tobin since its opening in February of 1950 for their own ambitious projects aiming to benefit the public good.
Illuminated Tobin opens a new chapter in the history of the Tobin Bridge, reflecting the evolving relationship between infrastructure and community. This recent history showcases a shift towards integrating public art and environmental consciousness into urban spaces, turning functional structures into symbols of collective identity and aspiration.
Where civic infrastructure once aimed solely for utility, recent developments like the High Line in New York and the Bay Lights in San Francisco reimagine public art at the scale of buildings, parks, and bridges, returning public voices to the heart of urban environments.
By learning from past lessons and embracing this new wave of public art-making, the Tobin Bridge stands poised to pick up a new mantle as a beacon of hope and creativity. Illuminating the Tobin Bridge honors its complex history while envisioning a future where infrastructure fulfills its potential as a platform for expression, reflection, and environmental stewardship.
CLIMATE INTEGRATION
The artwork uses weather and climate related data, collected in real time from a number of available sources, including data published by NASA, NOAA, and the UN. The artwork transforms these data streams into light, color, animation, and movement through the artwork programming, running on custom software.
This project is a monumental multimedia artwork incorporating real-world, real-time climate data streams and expresses these not as they are but as they are interrelated.
Real world data is collected in real time by the artwork systems, providing the artwork with up-to-the-moment observations of weather and climate conditions and events, near and far.
Satellite imagery and data published by NASA's EarthData Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) offer a detailed view of atmospheric conditions, temperature and land vegetation indices, glacier conditions, and ocean temperature and salinity, amongst many other data points.
The NOAA's National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) reports oceans conditions using an international network of land- and buoy-based sensors, offering a real-time (with updates as frequently as every 5 minutes) view of ocean conditions around the world.
Sentiment analysis of subject-related news and journal publications, performed in aggregate, allow for a snapshot view of how the climate and climate crisis are being talked about locally and globally.
Text analysis of the United Nations' Climate Reports, a leading source of information regarding the climate crisis, provides highly reputable data pertaining to humanities ongoing attempts to slow and reverse the climate crisis.
SAFETY + CARE
Given the nature of the creative concept of the artwork and its connection to climate change, MASARY will seek opportunities to minimize the artwork’s impact on the environment and local wildlife ecosystems (e.g. all light fixtures will be low-energy-draw LEDs). Throughout the project—from pre-installation through the life of the artwork—we intend to allocate funding towards carbon offsets / credits, theoretically making much of this project a carbon-neutral endeavor.
Additionally, during the development process, MASARY will discuss opportunities for “up-cycling” of light fixtures and equipment upon deinstallation of the artwork. This project will be realized in compliance with all governing bodies regarding safety on every level. From highway regulations to local authorities at the base of the bridge on either side to the Harbormaster and FAA this project will not be realized without comprehensive review and approval by these and likely other safety regulatory agencies.