A Night at the Alhambra

Harlem Lights: A Night at the Alhambra
New York, 2000
On May 22, 2000, Ingo Maurer gave a happening for 600 people called ''Harlem Lights: A Night at the Alhambra''.
It was the first time that the 1905 Alhambra Theater, at Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and 126th Street, where Billie Holiday performed in the 1930's, had come alive since it was abandoned in the 1960's. And for Mr. Maurer it was a first-time exhibit in Harlem. He illuminated the theater with an aluminum heart sprouting his Lucellino light bulbs, with goose feather wings. At one end, more than 100 candles suspended on thin steel wires hung as if floating in air over a shallow trough of water. When guests put on special glasses, left, and looked at a point of light, they saw paired hearts. ''I like the vitality, the tenderness that is there in Harlem,'' said Mr. Maurer, who created the evening with Cheryl Hill, a film producer. ''I wanted to create an atmosphere and use light as a fluid element.'' (Text by Elaine Louie). With the flying candle Fly Candle Fly by Georg Baldele and team.

​Fotos: Barbara Alper/Antoine Bootz, New York