Canopies cover Last Supper Festival

The sixth annual Last Supper Festival in September 2010 drew 1,200 consumers to the 3rd Ward courtyard in Brooklyn, N.Y., for an art, music and food event on—the act of consumption. Artists from many nations provided multimedia art and performance experiences, including art exhibits, films, new media, writing, music and “edible installations from creative culinarians” to spark conversation about consumption and raise money for the Food Bank of New York City. The dining, dancing and art took place under a futuristic web (designed by Ryan Lewandowski, Daria Supp and Lili Trenkova) and floating diamond-shaped tensile canopies sponsored by Pink Powered by Moss, New York, N.Y.

The 3rd Ward’s dark, narrow courtyard needed a visual transformation to make the space more inviting. The main part of the structure was a hyperbolic web of blacklight-reactive white string. Three of Pink’s Diamond Stretch Shapes then accented each of the three bays the structure created. In daylight, the bright yellow diamonds provided color and textural contrast between the string, the sky and the walls, as well as partial shade from the sun. At night, the expertly positioned lights caused the netting to glow, while the fabrics above appeared to float in the air. Projections of film, photos and art on single-layer, semi-opaque fabric screens (visible from either side) washed the crowd in color while local bands played on. Above the screen, one of Pink’s Kites, twisted around the fire escape, drew the eye upwards, illuminated by sound-activated, color-changing LEDs.

Admission to the event was $10 and three canned food items, and the theme of many performances and exhibits was the contrast between excessive consumption and world hunger.