Overview
SXSW Eco was created to help the greatest minds on environmental issues get together and share solutions on addressing the growing impact of man’s actions on the planet. In their inaugural year, they needed a effort to build brand awareness, and begin educating people of their mission. During that year’s music festival, they were given free reign of Republic Square Park, a major throughway of festival goers, to begin building public awareness for SXSW’s newest conference.
Execution
Our mission was twofold; create a well-lit safe space in an area traditionally left dark during the festival, and create works of art from unconventional, discarded materials. We worked with local businesses and recycling centers to source reusable materials as a sculpture medium. We built obelisks of used milk jugs, plastic bottles, and shipping materials, lit them from within, and distributed them throughout the park. Taking the message to heart, we even reused our own leftover building materials from previous projects, to build a 20 foot light tree. Custom patterns and logos were projected on the the landscape, and surrounding trees were lit to supplement the sculptures and fully transform the park.
Outcome
Throughout the week over 100,000 people visited, with numerous check-ins, tweets, and photos about the park and its lighting appearing in social media each night. The experiment was such a success, SXSW expanded the light garden the following year.