Digest>Archives> Jan/Feb 2014

Fallen Lighthouse Sends Unsaid Messages of Love, Regret, and Hope

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Fallen Lighthouse
Photo by: David McQueen

An interactive art sculpture of a fallen lighthouse in Socrates Sculpture Park in Astoria, Queens, New York allows people to text a message they never had the chance to say, or wish they had said, and the fallen lighthouse will flash the message from its fallen lantern in Morse code. In doing so, the entire lantern room lights up with the measurement flash of each dot and dash in sequence with the Morse code.

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The true name of the Blackwell Beacon is the ...
Photo by: Susan Villani

The exhibit was created by David McQueen, a sculpture/installation artist who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

In explaining the exhibit, the Socrates Sculpture Park web site says, “David McQueen has created the lantern room of the Blackwell Beacon (situated directly across the river from Roosevelt Island.) This beacon, however is more ghost than lodestar and appears to have collapsed into the shores of the park. It is a sad tribute to the beacon it seems to gaze upon, which is itself a vestigial monument to a more analog moment in our industrial history.”

If someone wants to send a message they can text the lighthouse by calling 718-473-9985. The lighthouse then translates the message into Morse code and at dusk it begins to send out those messages with the flash sequence from its lantern room, which lights up the entire lantern room with each dot and dash. “At sunset, it begins broadcasting to its still standing sister and to the world at large. In this way, the lantern room/lighthouse/lover allows us say all of the things we left unsaid. This ghost of a lighthouse lets us speak to our own ghosts. Blackwell’s Beacon remains dark and silent, most probably ignorant of the apologies, eulogies, whispers, and rumors that flash across the rover . . . but there is a chance that it sees . . . and that chance dispels the regret and releases us to pursue the future.”

You can see some of the messages that people have sent on Twitter by searching for theunsaideverything @ socrastesbeacon. Some of messages that people have texted to the lighthouse that it has flashed in Morse codes are:

“I want you to choose me over work sometimes.”

“I will wait for you”

“We both chose not to take that chance.”

“I wish I hadn’t left, but I know I can’t go back.”

“You should have picked me.”

“I was too afraid”

“I wish that I believed in myself when you believed in me.”

“I wish I didn’t push you away. I was so afraid of losing you, and in the end I did anyway.”

Socrates Sculpture Park was created in 1986 when an abandoned riverside landfill was transformed by community members under the leadership of artist Mark di Suvero to an internationally renowned outdoor museum and artist residency program.

David McQueen is a 2011 NYFA Fellow in sculpture who received a MFA in sculpture from Virginia Commonwealth University and a BA from Oberlin College. He is represented by the Kim Foster Gallery in New York (www.kimfostergallery.com). You can earn more about David McQueen on his web site at www.davidmcqueenstudios.com.

This is by far one of the most interesting and unique lighthouse related exhibits we have ever seen in our 22 years of publishing Lighthouse Digest. However, if you want the lighthouse to flash out your message, you will have to do it soon. The Fallen Lighthouse Exhibit will only be on display until March 1st, when it will be no more.

This story appeared in the Jan/Feb 2014 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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