The Tower KC

A project to implement “Seeing the Night Bluely,” a public art project in collaboration with the KCTV Tower in Kansas City. After 2001, it conveyed our colors.

The project started with the goal of re-lighting the tower and has evolved into a civic scaled public art engagement. Generations of Kansas Citians found their way home via the tower; it marked the passing of day to night; divided East from West, and North from South; it sat on the red line; and warned of weather to come. In 2010, it went dark. Artist James Woodfill’s vision for The Tower is a col

lective, unifying signal that speaks to the shared civic potential of the city. During each day, cameras will record the conditions of the atmosphere — capturing perceived color across the horizon and from dawn to dusk. Each night,Seeing the Night Bluely will broadcast the recorded light of the day. Perhaps only when presented with a memory of day can we see color for what it actually is, an experience rather than a property. In the same way, Seeing the Night Bluely offers both common ground and a highly personal gesture. Simultaneously, and equal to the transformation of the tower itself, a direct engagement of the Tower’s full geographic reach and visibility throughout the city will be led by Kansas City artist Jose Faus. The project team, will define opportunities and engage artists to consider “viewing stations,” locations and activities that utilize views of the tower to locally anchor the project and catalyze the opportunity for discussions of equity.

06/14/2023

Special thank to Kasper Andersen for these magnificent shots = enjoy

02/16/2022

This page has been up for a while now and it’s time to turn it up a notch. I would like to start collecting stories, memories, thoughts that attach to this iconic structure. The idea is to create a written memento of this marker. I’m not sure of the form yet but epic poem sounds about right. I invite you all to be a part of this collaboration. Share what you wish in any form, written or visual. No deadline at all - this is a living thing at the moment.
José

03/07/2019

Tonight I gaze across the landscape west of the tower along the sight line of 33rd street. See the shimmer of a sequenced, blinking strand of light, perpendicular in the inner cavity of the tower, like a beacon signaling its presence - bright enough to know it's there, faint enough to be a mirage.

11/28/2018

Tune in to Central Standard on KCUR 89.3 at 10:30am tomorrow to hear the story of the project thus far, how it came to be and some background on the concept/proposal.

11/18/2018

"The concept is to capture the colors of the sky every day — from sunrise to sunset, bright blue or overcast — and reproduce them on the tower at night. The colors would be played back by the LEDs in a minutes-long repeating loop, creating a subtle light show against the night sky...this could be our arch,”

A group called The Tower KC wants to return lights to KCTV’s transmission tower on East 31st Street and create the tallest public art installation in the world. Many people have already voiced support.

06/08/2017

Kansas City, looking south from Downtown, circa 2004-2005. The lights were switched to red, white & blue to commemorate 9/11.

We're hoping to order hardware for our prototype piece next week, which we'll share as things progress. Thanks again for your support!

(photo credit: reddit.com/user/scdog)

10/05/2016

Happy Birthday to The Tower KC - we've officially been at this a year (unofficially, much longer!). What do we have to show for it? Well, a lot:

> Our first big hurdle was getting the owners of The Tower to allow us to do this. KCTV not only agreed, they've become a huge advocate for the project.

> We installed test lights, which thanks to a lightning strike, we learned weren't robust enough to handle the environment. This means a renewed focus on engineering, the result of which will be a higher quality, more sustainable installation.

> A highly renowned, Kansas City based light artist has been commissioned and is actively working on the piece. We'll have more details to share on this soon - stay tuned!

> We've submitted a 501(c)3 application to the IRS, to create a stand alone non-profit entity around the project. We also have one board seat open - if you're reading this and know about grant writing, please message us!

> We've gained the support of so many individuals, businesses, neighborhood associations, public servants and more. The response has been overwhelming.

> We figured out that crowdfunding alone won't get this done. If you've already donated, thank you! You helped get us this far. Moving forward, we'll be pursuing the more traditional methods of public and private funding typically associated with a project of this scale. We are volunteer staffed so 100% of proceeds go to lighting The Tower.

Thank you for your support!

05/26/2016

Beautiful then & now shots from Union Hill! We miss how it lit up the night sky and are working hard to restore it to former glory. If you have a photograph of it all lit up, please share!

Throwback Thursday – The KCTV5 News Tower in 1955 and today! Learn more about supporting lighting up The Tower KC, here: http://bit.ly/1om54z2

02/01/2016

Quick project updates:

The good news: Thanks to the generosity of a few wonderful early supporters, we're up to around $12,000 in funds raised. This will allow us to start printing t-shirts and other promotional materials, along with firming up fundraising event plans. We are in talks with a renowned Kansas City based light artist, who we hope to have join the project shortly. Another big win is the support of Illuminate The Arts, who should have a bit more bandwidth now that their Bay Lights project is complete.

The challenges: Thanks to some new regulations, we need to do both an FAA survey and an environmental survey. It's more of a formality than anything, just a matter of working through the red tape.

Thanks for all of your support! If you have any questions or would like to volunteer, please message us here.

Photo credit: Sean Church.

02/01/2016

Thank you ILLUMINATE for an incredible launch party and for your support of The Tower!

Address

125 E 31st Street
Kansas City, MO
64108

Website

http://www.thetowerkc.com/

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Our Story

The project started with the goal of re-lighting the tower and has evolved into a civic scaled public art engagement.

Generations of Kansas Citians found their way home via the tower; it marked the passing of day to night; divided East from West, and North from South; it sat on the red line; and warned of weather to come. After 2001, it conveyed our colors. In 2010, it went dark.

Artist James Woodfill’s vision for The Tower is a collective, unifying signal that speaks to the shared civic potential of the city. During each day, cameras will record the conditions of the atmosphere — capturing perceived color across the horizon and from dawn to dusk. Each night,Seeing the Night Bluely will broadcast the recorded light of the day. Perhaps only when presented with a memory of day can we see color for what it actually is, an experience rather than a property. In the same way, Seeing the Night Bluely offers both common ground and a highly personal gesture.

Simultaneously, and equal to the transformation of the tower itself, a direct engagement of the Tower’s full geographic reach and visibility throughout the city will be led by Kansas City artist Jose Faus. The project team, will define opportunities and engage artists to consider “viewing stations,” locations and activities that utilize views of the tower to locally anchor the project and catalyze the opportunity for discussions of equity.