PROJECT NEON Opening Reception on September 23rd

Old Town Bar

Project Neon, a photography exhibit celebrating New York City’s great collection of glowing neon signs, is coming to the City Reliquary. The show will open with a reception on Friday, Sept. 23, at 7pm.

Project Neon began as a personal photography project by Kirsten Hively in commemoration of the centenary of neon’s first commercial display. It quickly grew into a larger project to explore the city and document all of New York’s major working neon signs (and many of the smaller ones, too). Now firmly established as a blog with a popular following, Project Neon’s goal is to inspire New Yorkers to visit the great signs that light up the night across the five boroughs.

Commercial neon signs–free and accessible to all–are repositories for stories both grand and personal. Some say they are a dying breed, but Project Neon believes they are a unique and vital part of New York’s identity. The signs’ particular quality of light, their lovely typography and design, and the history they embody all make neon signage worth celebrating, preserving, and perpetuating.

The exhibit will feature several dozen of Hively’s neon photos and will also mark the release of the (free!) Project Neon iPhone app, which visitors will be able to download on-site. The app features photographs and information about many of the signs featured in the show, as well as maps to help people find them in person.

Hively co-produced the Candela Structures show at the City Reliquary in 2009. This is her first solo show.

Bookmark and Share

3 Responses to “PROJECT NEON Opening Reception on September 23rd”

  1. Great project! Neon is great and the photos are wonderful! Hope that you keep going with this!

  2. Neon says:

    I hope project neon will open some eye brows and stimulate the preservation of neon signs!!!

  3. Judy Rauh says:

    How long will Project Neon be on exhibit?