Revelry
2015
plastic bead necklaces, temporary metal chain-link fence
6' x 210' x 3'
For ArtPrize Seven, I created Revelry, a large-scale outdoor installation on Calder Plaza in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Thirty thousand shiny plastic bead necklaces hung from a temporary chain-link fence stretching more than two hundred feet between City Hall and the Kent County Building. As viewers moved alongside the fence, the work unfolded as a journey through space, color, and perception — beginning as an ordinary construction barrier and gradually transforming into a dense, shimmering rainbow that revealed itself only through sustained movement.
As the beads shifted from silver to bursts of pink, gold, green, blue, and purple, the fence evolved from visual “static” into an organized spectrum of light. The rainbow — loaded with meanings ranging from divine promise to pride and equality — marked an emotional endpoint: an open, reflective space that invited pause, selfies, and contemplation. Turning one’s back on Calder’s La Grande Vitesse and walking toward the rainbow also became, for me, a quiet act of resistance, a peaceful counter-movement against the confusion and conflict I experienced during the project’s initial installation.
Revelry was always meant to be participatory. I invited people to add their own beads to the fence, transforming it into a living archive of conversation, celebration, and debate — mirroring the tensions that define ArtPrize itself. When the beads were unexpectedly removed just days after installation, the work shifted again. The media labeled it vandalism; visitors returned beads in bags or re-knotted them in new patterns. The piece inhaled and exhaled with the public’s actions, evolving from an abstract gesture into an emotional narrative about joy, loss, and collective care. As one visitor put it perfectly: “It felt like the piece was breathing. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale again.”
