IN DEVELOPMENT - AR - THE ANGELS PROJECT - Re-illumination of Closed Churches
The Angel's Project
The Angels Project is one of rebirth, repurposing and reignited community action. It takes my years of globally recognized repurposing skills to a greater scale than ever before. Filling twelve churches with massive chandeliers made from piano parts, steel industry remains illuminating them with renewable energy and exciting activity.
Imagine 12 closed churches all over Pittsburgh reignited by massive illuminated chandeliers inside. Light emanating out of these currently dead spaces as a beacons of new life. A powerful and beautiful whole city visual statement creating enlightened community gathering centers.
THE ANGELS PROJECT is an idea birthed by the need for serious neighborhood renewing, the amazing number of empty church spaces all over the city and the raw materials from Pittsburgh’s beloved past waiting to be used all over the area too.
My name is Rodney Allen Trice. I have been repurposing objects into whimsical adaptations of furniture and lighting for more than 25 years. My refined designs have earned me global recognition and a position on Time Magazines Green Design 100 list. Additionally In the last 30 years I have been an Art Director in NYC, creator and executive producer for a TV pitch as well as co-founder of The DUMBO Arts Center and co-producer of the first several of our annual open studio festivals. These festivals were some of the largest in NYC for years. Moving back home to Pittsburgh this year to expand my work has been stimulating.
My plan is to scout, research and select twelve churches in Pittsburgh for “enlightenment”. Then immediately source available repurpose materials from the area to build massive chandeliers in each of the select empty churches. I already have an endless supply of piano parts including those big cast iron string frames that could sound magical if tiny things were dropped through them. Currently looking for steel and glass industry and Westinghouse discards to make the individual parts as exciting as the completed chandeliers. These chandeliers would be like “chickens in a shoe box’ massive. In other words, wildly too larger for the space. In some of the churches you aren’t sure where the chandelier begins and ends almost filling the entire soaring ceilings with precisely organized found materials and light. The plan is to use LED so it can be programed and changed through the installation. While most of these chandeliers will be suspended from the ceilings, some might be sitting on the floor like mighty Buddha statues you see in temples in the world. These versions would be such that you would be surrounded by them and could walk through them. In addition to working with engineers for the chandeliers, I want to work with a theater lighting expert to interpret what the particular look and light of the chandelier inside, designing the outside lighting to not disturb the neighbors while at the same time being a dynamic beacon. Imagine looking out over the city from its many hills and seeing the twelve lights beaming up everywhere.
The churches would be filled with events ranging from performance, music, theater as well as community events reaching peoples needs that could benefit from these dynamic spaces.
I see this project gaining national and even international attention. With that attention I hope to help Pittsburgh’s communities to find renewed passion and understanding in how the arts does indeed interact with and benefit all of our lives and businesses.
It would be amazing if some of these churches could remain permanently open as performance spaces, community action centers reenforcing inspiration and neighborhood pride.
Another large scale project I’m working on is a home built from retired aircraft called Basel House. This project marked my first real step into much larger projects. This is where I began really hashing out my ideas with the spaces we live in, their impact on the planet and how the American Dream without this kind of reinvention does nothing but foster unhappiness and relentless work in addition to damaging the only planet we have to live on. The original idea was to build it in Miami in conjunction with Art Basel.
My first bump up in scale here in Pittsburgh is my Toilet Chandelier. It was a project for a benefit for Construction Junction. The project was a large contemporary chandelier made from 7 wall mounted public toilets. This Toilet Chandelier gained attention from WENN (World Entertainment News Network) in the UK as well as several blogs.