What makes BIG♥NYC a successful installation in Times Square is that not only is it a light display that is very much in tune with the rest of the dense, color-saturated plaza, but it also embodies the City as it celebrates Valentine’s Day. Created from acrylic tubes lit from below that define a 10’x10’x10’ cube, the suspended heart symbol responds to those around it; “the huddled crowd makes the heart burn brighter…A heart created from a collective cluster of individual constituents” by utilizing energy garnered from nearby sensors under the sidewalk. In other words, this symbol for a sappy holiday does not subscribe to the notion that love only occurs between two people. Instead of the heart growing brighter when, say, two people touch either side of it, it grows brighter with each new individual that comes to take a look. Many people come to cities to tap into the oceanic energy created by millions of individuals each pursuing their own goals. They may be looking for luck, for money, for fulfillment, or for love, but the City, no matter who they are, will find a niche for them eventually. Each new person contributes to the constantly changing organism of New York City, and in that way, each new person helps to make the city, and BIG’s heart, grow just a bit brighter.
