Design: Ballroom Luminoso

"Ballroom Luminoso" by Joe O’Connell and Blessing Hancock
A chandelier of recycled bicycle part, structural steel, custom LED fixtures

Commissioned by the San Antonio Department for Culture and Creative Development

On exhibit at the intersection of Theo and Malone with I-35, San Antonio, Texas.

"Ballroom Luminoso is a series of six brilliantly lit, color changing chandeliers. Drawing from the formal elegance of the freeway underpass and the cultural currents of the surrounding neighborhoods, the piece transforms a forgotten space into one that connects the community."

"Each globe contains a custom-designed LED light fixture, which casts sharply detailed overlapping shadows. The chandeliers paint the underpass with complex color patterns and ethereal lighting thereby refashioning the space into a majestic ballroom-cum-shadow theater. Melding grandeur with a sense of neighborhood rejuvenation, the sculptures weld recycled bike parts into refined forms."

"Ballroom Luminoso references the area’s past, present, and future in the design of its intricately detailed medallions. The images in the medallions draw on the community’s agricultural history, strong Hispanic heritage, and burgeoning environmental movement. The medallions are a play on the iconography of La Loteria, which has become a touchstone of Hispanic culture. Utilizing traditional tropes like La Escalera (the Ladder), La Rosa (the Rose), and La Sandía (the Watermelon), the piece alludes to the neighborhood’s farming roots and horticultural achievements. Each character playfully rides a bike acting as a metaphor for the neighborhood’s environmental progress, its concurrent eco-restoration projects, and its developing cycling culture."