Arlington Metro riders might soon notice some digital screens displaying local artwork popping up at five stations sometime this spring.
WMATA plans to install the new screens at a dozen stations across the Metro system over the coming weeks, including several stops in Arlington itself: Crystal City, Ballston, Pentagon City, National Airport and Rosslyn.
Ballston’s Metro station could soon see a colorful, motion-activated, LED light display as part of a new public art project.
Dubbed “Intersections,” the project is being backed by the Ballston Business Improvement District and is still many months away from completion.
The following feature article was funded by our new Patreon community. Want to see more articles like this, exploring important local topics that don’t make our usual news coverage? Join and help fund additional local journalism in Arlington.
“You walked in and you just felt good,” says Eric Brace.
Ever seen a light-up, musical seesaw? If not, you might want to swing by a new public art installation in a parking lot sitting on the border of Crystal City and Pentagon City.
Starting last week, the lot became home to “Impulse,” an interactive art display designed to spruce up the previously barren space at the corner of 12th Street S. and S. Eads Street, just across from the Whole Foods grocery store.
Shatner: Arlington E-Bike Rules ‘Barbaric’ — E-bike enthusiast and Priceline pitchman William Shatner, better known as Star Trek’s Captain James T. Kirk, said via Twitter yesterday — in response to a tweet from the sassy Arlington Dept. Environmental Services Twitter account — that Arlington’s prohibition on e-bikes on local trails is “barbaric.” [Twitter]
Kojo Coming to Crystal City — WAMU 88.5 is bringing the Kojo Nnamdi Show to Crystal City for “a town hall-style discussion about how local officials, businesses, and community members in Northern Virginia and the region are reacting to Amazon’s decision.” Those wishing to attend the taping can register online. [Kojo Nnamdi Show]
Arlingtonians can get a glimpse into the past with a photo exhibit currently on display at Westover Branch Library.
The historic photo montage documents houses and buildings in Arlington before their demolition and the structures that replaced them, spanning 40 years. The photos are showcased in window frames preserved from the demolished houses depicted.
Arlington officials say Goody’s pizzeria in Clarendon didn’t earn the county approval it needed before painting a new mural on its storefront — but the county won’t be taking drastic action against the restaurant just yet.
Helen Duong, a spokeswoman for the county’s Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development, told ARLnow that zoning inspectors visited the restaurant and “concluded that the artwork is considered a sign under Arlington County’s zoning ordinance because the artwork relates to the advertisement of a business and its services.”
Update, Friday at 8:30 a.m. — After this article was published, a county spokeswoman told ARLnow that zoning officials were “not aware of the mural at Goody’s.”
“A zoning enforcement inspector will be visiting the site to further investigate this matter,” spokeswoman Helen Duong wrote in an email.
A bevy of new public art looks to be on the way for Crystal City, just a few weeks after the neighborhood’s largest property owner commissioned a series of art projects around the area.
The Crystal City Business Improvement District has put out a call yesterday (Wednesday) to local artists looking to bring some temporary public art to the neighborhood, as part of an effort to “activate vacant and open spaces” and “enliven and connect the public realm.” The BID is offering up to hand out up to $50,000 for each project, and is inviting professional public artists, “art consultant organizations and curators” to apply.
(Update at 4:25 p.m.) After this article was published, Carol Fuller, president of the Crystal City Civic Association, reached out with some clarity on the origin of the street art:
The mysterious street art cropping up around Pentagon City and Crystal City seems to be evolving.
Gallery Clarendon is celebrating its grand opening.
On Saturday (Sept. 15), the Gallery Clarendon will officially open at the corner of Clarendon Blvd. and and Fillmore St. in the former Fuego restaurant corner.
(Updated at 2 p.m.) A series of spray-painted flowers have bloomed on streets and trails around Pentagon City and Crystal City — but no one we’ve talked to is quite sure who’s responsible for them.
Eagle-eyed ARLnow reader Margot Duzak says she first spotted the flowers popping up in the area last Thursday (Aug. 30), without any explanation.
