LIGHT UP THE COAST
29 Jun 2017
Queensland's Gold Coast will receive two new lighted art installations that will bookend the city and provide a distinctive gateway into and out of the city for visitors, in time for next year's Commonwealth Games.
Assigned by the Gateways Public Art Commission, New York-based design studio LOT-EK’s latest light installation, HI-LIGHTS, delivers a visually bold symbol of the Gold Coast in Australia. The project features nearly 100 modified highway lights and poles, closely spaced at different heights.
The lights will appear to spell out the city’s name in the northern installation and feature the letters GC at the southern site. City of Gold Coast Mayor Tate said the Gateways would “bookend” the city and become an iconic “welcome” to visitors and “welcome home” for residents. 
LOT-EK is internationally renowned for ‘up-cycling’ everyday objects, and in this case re-purposing street lights. Both artworks will be located in highly visible areas - in the north along the Pacific Highway and in the south near the airport on the Gold Coast Highway. The northern artwork will stretch 100m in length and reach a maximum height of 11m. Gold metallic paint will add to the geometry that echoes and amplifies the rounded letters at each location.
“Together, they will create a sense of arrival and welcome for locals, visitors and GC2018 athletes, regardless of whether they visit us from the north or south,” explains Mayor Tate.
“This is the latest of many arts and culture projects underway. Locals and visitors will see a very different Gold Coast, a city more mature in its cultural offerings, before, during and after the games”.
