Aggregate

In 2019, Rivers of Steel commissioned local contemporary artist Ian Brill to create a temporary site-specific installation in the glass egress stairwell of the Bost Building.  Curated by Rivers of Steel’s Arts Director Chris McGinnis, Brill’s installation represents the many organizations, artists and individuals working together across the Mon Valley Creative Corridor to strengthen the cultural vitality of the Monongahela Valley.  Aggregate was unveiled to the public on May 3rd, 2019 to celebrate the launch of the inaugural Homestead First Fridays Arts and Entertainment Series.

“Aggregate is a Public Light Art installation that was conceived, developed and installed over the course of about a month at the Bost Building in Homestead. The installation is comprised of a network consisting of one central computer and ten Raspberry Pi-powered nodes. The entire installation consists of 732 ten-inch cubes, illuminated with 6-RGB-nodes within each cell. In keeping with the title, the LED’s themselves exist in the form of strands that have been refurbished from compromised parts from earlier installations. In addition to the title, which references material properties familiar with historic industry of the region, the work itself is the emergent project consisting of several stages of nested systems, all the way down to the programming, each of which are themselves aggregate devices.”            – Ian Brill