© Zach Reich

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*Non-underlined: to be updated

Date: 09.09.24 – 09.30.24

Locations

• 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY
• Atlanta, GA 
• Baltimore, MD 
• Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York, NY
• Brooklyn Bridge, New York, NY
• Cincinnati, OH
• CitiField, New York, NY
• Cleveland, OH
• Columbus Circle, New York, NY
• Columbus, OH
• Detroit, MI
• Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Steward Park, New York, NY
• Dumbo Archway, New York, NY
• Emerson Collective, New York, NY
• Grand Army Plaza, New York, NY
• High Line, New York, NY
• Houston, TX
• Kimalu Square, New York, NY
• Little Island, New York, NY
• Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
• Miami, FL
• Oakland, CA
• Pioneer Works, New York, NY
• Tampa, FL
• The Arch Manhattan, New York, NY
• Union Square, New York, NY

Overview

Indigenous American artist Jeffrey Gibson presented a series of billboards and animated projections displayed in September 2024 (in time for Climate Week). These designs were displayed across New York City and the United States and incorporated lines from an original poem by the artist titled “The Spirits Are Laughing.” The designs were shown at the same time as the artist’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale was active. The artist contracted me to produce these works. I collaborated with the artist and their studio throughout the production process.

Background Graphics

We began this project with a suite of bright colors. Vivid, bold colors from across the spectrum are a halllmark of the artist’s work. The artist created twenty sketches of radial color gradients. By blurring the gradients and animating them in After Effects, we created a dynamic background that faded between the colors the artist chose. We then adjusted speed and scale for different projection and print resolutions.


Poetry

Our next priority was organizing and animating the lines of the poem (see end for original poem) to be displayed on top of the background. Originally, the artist had proposed using their original handwriting to spell out the lines of the poem. The artist had previously used their handwriting to design pieces featured at the Venice Biennale and other locations, so they felt comfortable using the same technique for these designs. After receiving the words of the poem written in the artist’s handwriting, I vectorized the words and animated the strokes to look like the words were being written in real time.

After multiple iterations with varied stroke widths, speeds, and colors, the artist and I decided that typography would be more effective than handwriting, especially for onlookers who may struggle to read the handwriting. The artist had previously designed their own sans-serif typeface, titled “Jeffrey Gibson,” which we decided to substitute for the handwriting. We also decided to use white text to create high contrast from the colors of the background. We decided to organize the text such that the speaker (the animals, the sky, the land, the water, or the people) remained listed at the top of the design, while their 10 respective lines faded in and out below.

For increased contrast, we used regular weight to list the speaker and bold weight for each of the lines of the poem. As an extra touch, we added a slight wiggling effect to each of the letters of the text, creating a feeling of constant movement and liveliness.


Patterns

We proceeded to incorporate the artist’s original pattern designs into the animations and stills. We decided to overlay the patterns onto the animation of blurred colors that we had already created. To do so, we recreated each of the artist’s designs as vectored Illustrator patterns, which we then converted to masks and applied to the background in After Effects. When played at a 0.25sec delay on top of the original animation, the patterns appeared subtly over the background. With tweaks to scale and contrast, we completed the pattern overlays, used in both the final animations and still displays.


Site-specific Optimization

Next, we began to optimize our design for each of the moving and still displays on which we planned to project. Each display used a different resolution and required a different animation length; one display even required a four-channel animation. For shorter animations, we adjusted our animation to display one or two phrases for each speaker, with background pattern changes accordingly. For longer animations, we used all five speakers. We ensured that each animation would loop continuously. For still displays, we selected single lines from the poem and took stills from the animation at different moments to capture a broad range of colors in the background. We then sent the animations to the projection teams and printers.


Challenges

Transitions: When the background faded between yellow and green, the white text on top of the background became difficult to read. We decided to time the animation so that the previous line faded out as the background turned to yellow. The next line faded in as the background turned from green to blue.

Typographic Hierarchy: Though it was clear that there was some relationship between the speaker and the line of the poem, it was not initially clear what that relationship was. We considered using phrases like “the animals say” or “the land whispers” to achieve a clearer speaker-text relationship. We found that a simple colon after the name of the speaker was sufficient to convey that the speaker was saying the phrase displayed below.

Patterns: Tastefully combining the patterns with the background proved challenging. Changing the blending mode of the pattern caused the colors in the background to become muted, while simply overlaying the shapes with a solid fill color created too much contrast. By using the patterns as a stencil and playing the background animation at a 0.25sec delay through the pattern, the colors remained rich and the contrast between the background and the patterns was subtle.

Timing: Deadlines were tight for this project. Turnaround time was just three weeks from start to finish. Through frequent meetings over Zoom and in the artist’s studio, we collaborated productively and quickly.

Press

Artsy: Jeffrey Gibson launches public art series in New York during Climate Week.

Hyperallergic: Jeffrey Gibson Records the Land’s Heartbeat in NYC Projections

Roberts Projects: Jeffrey Gibson debuts art installations across New York City during Climate Week NYC and Creative Time Summit 2024

Sikkema Jenkins: Jeffrey Gibson: 'THE SPIRITS ARE LAUGHING' for Climate Week
Images


Original Poem

“The Spirits Are Laughing”

(The Sky)

1. the spirits are laughing
2. i am your relative
3. look up at me and smile
4. laugh with me
5. cry with me
6. breathe me in
7. breathe me out
8. acknowledge the sun and moon
9. wish upon my stars
10. know that i love you

(The Land)

1. the spirits are laughing 
2. i am your relative
3. you have consumed me
4. you will return to me
5. i have no boundaries
6. you don’t own me
7. i don’t own you
8. i have always been here
9. i will continue to change
10. i love you

(The Water)

1. the spirits are laughing
2. i flow through your body
3. i am your relative
4. i am transformative
5. please take care of me
6. don’t poison me
7. you can’t live without me
8. i am listening
9. talk to me
10. i love you

(The People)

1. the spirits are laughing
2. we are your relatives
3. we are your ancestors
4. we emerged from the earth
5. we have never left you
6. we see you
7. you can speak to us
8. we can hear you
9. don’t be afraid of us
10. we love you

(The Animals)

1. the spirits are laughing
2. we are your relatives
3. we live on the same land
4. we breathe the same air
5. we drink the same water
6. some of our relatives are extinct
7. we have families
8. we know the land
9. we can teach you
10. we love you