Santa Monica held its second biannual nighttime art extravaganza, GLOW, Saturday night but the results were underwhelming. Of the twenty light-based installations scattered on and around the Santa Monica Pier, only three or four appeared to resonate with the huge wandering crowd. Most of the displays suffered from one or more of the following: lack of imagination, unachievable technical ambitions or artistic obscurity. A major obligation of art is to at least be interesting– first you’ve got to get my attention and hold it while the meaning or purpose becomes clear. Ironically, the best glow on the beach was the neon Ferris wheel rotating on the pier, stealing the show from well-intended, but mostly flat installations.
But as a mobile block party, Glow succeeded. The unseasonably warm night brought the folks out in droves and between ocean waves lit by the moon and the lively, lit pier, a good, if not artistic, time was had by all.