Los Angeles, Italy
Vermonica is a public art installation initiated by artist Sheila Klein in May 1993, uninstalled in November 2017 and reinstalled in a new location in December 2020. Vermonica is now located on Santa Monica Boulevard at Lyman Place, opposite the Cahuenga Branch Library. The sculpture is named for th
e intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Vermont Avenue in East Hollywood. Some of the artwork's 25 lamp poles date to 1925, the year Los Angeles's Bureau of Street Lighting opened. Placed in front of a Rite Aid, the lights glow to illuminate the mini-mall parking lot where it was located at specific times during the night. Sheila Klein cooperated with Los Angeles businesses, bureaus, departments and neighborhoods to erect what she describes as a "formal composition" and a "drive-in museum" of street lighting. Vermonica was envisioned initially as a temporary installation with borrowed poles from the nearby streetlight yard on Santa Monica Boulevard. The sculpture was so popular that it remained in place. Vermonica precedes Chris Burden's Urban Light by 15 years.
Listen to the audio guide for Vermonica Free on WIP — starts by itself when you arrive, even with the screen off