LumenARRT! is a project of the Artists Rapid Response Team (ARRT!). We work through the Union of Maine Visual Artists (UMVA), a members’ organization that advocates for artists and furthers the work of progressive non-profits in the state of Maine. Our video projections create a visual voice for these organizations and like electronic graffiti, bring awareness to issues of social, economic, and environmental justice.
LumenARRT! lights up the Federal Building in Portland, ME
“We’ll see you in court!”
We’re firing up our projectors to meet the unusual challenges facing us — time to light up Maine! Two Lights lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth and Bug Light in So. Portland carry our messages! Click on the picture to see the video and please note that you can download recent videos/stills from the “Take Action” page of our website.
We were warmed by the community interactions at our shadow puppet extravaganza for S’mores Thursday at Congress Square Park in Portland. We called attention to endangered species with shadow puppets and an interactive set up. Thanks to Friends of Congress Square Park and Mayo Street Arts.
Our LumenARRT! crew were excited to support the opening of the Brazen Bandits exhibit at Space Gallery in Portland. We were there with lights outside and interactive dancing inside. Kudos to this trans artist collective for creating a space for reprieve, connection, art-making and to raise voices and spirits toward change.
Great turn-out! Voters registered and so many fun selfies were taken! We did voting projections on Mechanics’ Hall in October and November and rocked to the sounds of the Ideal Maine Social Aid and Sanctuary Band. Passers-by got cool stickers and lots of selfie props for getting the best pic — and our partners The League of Women Voters of Maine answered voting questions! Here’s a taste of what it was like (a video of our projection last March).
It’s time to do something about gun violence! LumenARRT! created a virtual projection on the capitol for the opening of the legislature. We’ll be back as legislation comes to the fore.
On the longest night of the year, we were honored to partner with Preble Street to create a ceremony for the 45 people who died homeless in Portland in 2023.
Great news! The mining application to rezone our wilderness was turned down by the LUPC! We were ready for them (with this video) when Wolfden reapplied to the LUPC to allow metal mining at Pickett Mountain near Katahdin. Thanks to our partners, the NRCM, for all their hard work!
Protect Ancient Forests asked LumenARRT! to create an environment as the audience entered Merrill Auditorium for “Climate Aid: The Voice of the Forest.” We were proud to be part of an inspiring evening of climate activism in defense of old growth trees — featuring Maggie Rogers, Bill McKibben, Terry Tempest Williams, the Oshima Brothers and more!
We were pleased to join with the Maine Library Association — on First Friday Art Walk in Monument Square — to project in support of the freedom to read. The librarians passed out lots of good info, people took selfies, and LumenARRT! even had a screen in the shape of a book. Click here to see our video of the event!
LumenARRT! was busy last year supporting voting and abortion rights. One super effort was before the election, when we projected on Mechanics’ Hall on Congress St. in Portland. We had a camera set-up so that passers-by could hold up signs and see themselves projected on the building! Lots of proud voters and feminists took part! Click on picture or view video here!
At December’s Art Walk in Portland, LumenARRT! lit up the Portland Public Library (thanks!) and a wall on Congress Street in collaboration with Mainers Guarding Right Whales. We want to help create the public will that will see subsidies for lobstermen, so they can change over to whale-safe traps. It’s a lot to expect fishermen to bear the brunt of the changes necessary to save this critically endangered species (only 336 left)…so let’s all work to help! 
One recent effort (view here) was on behalf of the Maine wilderness, threatened by the Wolfden Corporation’s application to rezone 528 acres for metal mining at Mt. Pickett, near Katahdin. We went “virtual” at the LUPC office in Augusta, hoping people would write them during the public comment period before their decision. Wolfden ended up withdrawing their application! Yeah, team!
We joined forces with The Kneeling Art Photography Project to amplify the work of ten photographers whose work captured Mainers taking a knee for racial justice. The New Moon Ensemble and the Ideal Maine Social Aid & Sanctuary Band got the crowd dancing as projections filled Monument Square, Portland. Then on July 9th, LumenARRT! projected at Opening Night of the Maine International Film Festival (MIFF ’24).
A BIG video projection at the Camden Post Office on September 5th: We partnered with Midcoast Maine Indivisible and the League of Women Voters of Maine to SUPPORT THE POST OFFICE/SAVE THE VOTE!
Our recent video projection in Bangor, amplified the call for removal of the Estevan Gomez monument!
LumenARRT! was on the street in Portland with video and light projections. We stand against racism and continue to amplify the voices of #Black Lives Matter and, as we say in our video on the capitol, “Racism is a virus…we support all those fighting against viruses everywhere.” We won’t let Trump’s photo-op in Maine divide our community!
Another of our current campaigns features Virus Activism — virtual projections on sites around Maine with messages to our leaders to respond fairly to the hardships caused by the pandemic.
Click on the picture to see a compilation of six of the videos!
At Congress Square Park, Portland, our recent projection, Detention Center in a Truck, called attention to the new ICE office and holding cell at One City Center and asked for an end to profiling and deportations of people of color in Maine. #EVICTICE #ABOLISHICE
Video of one of our latest events: Projecting the Vote!
LumenARRT! teamed up with the League of Women Voters of Maine, Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, the Portland Public Library and the Ideal Maine Social Aid and Sanctuary Band for “Projecting the Vote” in Monument Square on November 1st. Video projections of suffragist footage and animations asked viewers to honor the struggles of suffragists by voting and making voting more accessible for all.
LumenARRT! was proud to join Extinction Rebellion and 350 Maine for the Global Climate Strike. We projected at Fringe Fest, Biddeford, ME on behalf of the animals facing extinction due to climate change and human stressors. See the video here!
LumenARRT! joins the Extinction Rebellion call for action on 4/15 with a virtual projection on a South Portland oil tank! Stop pissing on our world! See the whole video here!
LumenARRT! was at the CMCA Biennial in Rockland. We were privileged to be showing alongside some fabulous artists! Our piece is a pun on “projection,” creating a physical shape for people’s “projections” onto women’s bodies. We use video projection to wash away some of those words used to describe women. We call it “Free Fall(t): Projection-cleansing for Women.” (See a short video of the piece in action by clicking on the title or the picture below.)
Our recent projections included Martin Luther King Day 1/21/19 in Portland, Maine.
At the September Art Walk in Portland and Fringe Festival in Biddeford, we projected a Codfish Funeral with the live sound of the IDEAL MAINE SOCIAL AID AND SANCTUARY BAND! In Portland, we were projecting in support of the global mobilization and Rise for Climate, Jobs and Justice Rally the next day and of course, in support of the codfish.
How about those new LumenARRT! outfits!? Makes you want to join the crew! Contact us, if you, too, want to wear a cool light-up vest and do video projections for change! (photos by Tom Hibschman & Dave Wade)
On 6/29 we were in front of Susan Collins’ office in support of the “Keep Families Together” rally the next day.
Another recent projection called attention to the millions of Americans who want common sense gun controls — and the inability of our Maine State Legislature to act. Lots of news coverage!
On January 15th in Portland, we joined with the NAACP in celebrating Martin Luther King Day. We also had an interactive projection in the lobby for attendees to write or draw their thoughts on freedom and racial justice.
LumenARRT! joined with Engine to project at River Jam Fringe Fest in Biddeford. “Warming of the Gulf of Maine” was video-mapped on the facade of the Marble Block on Main St. — with shadow puppets and draw-your-own-comments/electronic graffiti around the corner on Franklin St.
Our projection extravaganza on July 14th at MIFF (Maine International Film Festival) Opening Night Party. FIVE projectors going and we had our interactive component available so viewers could Tweet and draw onto the party tent. They were reacting to finding out the air quality in their zip code. Try it now! Visit the 10Green project at the University of Maine –> http://10green.org/ #WhatsYourBreathableNumber
Our latest video projection, “Air Story,” reminds people that climate change is an undisputed fact among scientists and that there are many toxic substances in our air. The brief video projections will be showing at venues throughout Maine in 2017.
For one recent projection, we joined in the Grand Opening of the Equality Community Center at 511 Congress St, Portland, ME.
This video is a brief taste of what it was like! (see a longer video here that features some of the interviews and more detailed animations!)
lumenarrt.org 