The other evening I went to Lightscape, the immersive holiday lights extravaganza now at the Botanical Garden. For an hour and a half, I shuffled with the crowd along a trail of glowing, strobing, flashing, flickering, lasering, psychedelic, kaleidoscopic, swirling colored light. The final display, Winter Cathedral, is a long, arched tunnel of shimmering LED lights. Stumbling out of it, I felt the need for a very different immersive experience. I craved darkness.
A friend has a cottage 5 hours north in Michigan. It’s not total darkness, but you can see thousands more stars than you can in Chicago. It’s magical…as is that moon in your photo.
Darkness inspired art science and spirituality. I think we need more of it.
Ok, a mind-opening essay. I admire you taking a stand against something presented as "awe-inspiring" and "beautiful." But squaring it, rightly, as a Vegas-like show in the park, which is a 24/7 spectacle of all that nature has to offer, lands right. I want to support the park financially, and I *love* anything related to fairy lights, disco lights, etc., but the light you showed on this light show makes me reconsider if this is how I want to experience our miracle of a park. And yes, there is such beauty in darkness.
I entirely agree! Garish, Vegas-y, but as always, anything that brings visitors and revenue coming into the park, we put up with. But truly loved the deeper meditation on the appreciation of darkness...dark/light...especially at this time of year.
Thought-provoking piece shedding light on darkness, which we could use for several reasons now. Thanks. I used to have a paper slip from a cookie fortune taped to my newsroom computer reading: “It is always darkest before the dawn.” Don’t know if that’s technically true but it gave me hope.
A friend has a cottage 5 hours north in Michigan. It’s not total darkness, but you can see thousands more stars than you can in Chicago. It’s magical…as is that moon in your photo.
Darkness inspired art science and spirituality. I think we need more of it.
Ok, a mind-opening essay. I admire you taking a stand against something presented as "awe-inspiring" and "beautiful." But squaring it, rightly, as a Vegas-like show in the park, which is a 24/7 spectacle of all that nature has to offer, lands right. I want to support the park financially, and I *love* anything related to fairy lights, disco lights, etc., but the light you showed on this light show makes me reconsider if this is how I want to experience our miracle of a park. And yes, there is such beauty in darkness.
I entirely agree! Garish, Vegas-y, but as always, anything that brings visitors and revenue coming into the park, we put up with. But truly loved the deeper meditation on the appreciation of darkness...dark/light...especially at this time of year.
Thought-provoking piece shedding light on darkness, which we could use for several reasons now. Thanks. I used to have a paper slip from a cookie fortune taped to my newsroom computer reading: “It is always darkest before the dawn.” Don’t know if that’s technically true but it gave me hope.