Located 100 stories above the Manhattan streets, Edge is the highest outdoor sky deck in the Western Hemisphere. For its 2024 summer season, we designed and produced a special site-specific installation called SHADES, which explores how we see light and color, using all of New York City as the canvas.
On one hand, SHADES can be enjoyed at face value as a big, colorful, summery playground. And on the other hand, it can be seen as a deep invitation to really think about what’s happening when you look at the world around you.
In a similar way, SHADES is both a very simple idea – use the three subtractive colors as filters to transform the view of NYC – and also a technical feat, as our team discovered while working through what exactly these filters could be, how to achieve just the right colors, how to ensure they’re crystal clear when looking through, and perhaps importantly, how to adhere them to the observation deck windows to survive heat, wind and rain for a whole summer yet without damaging the specially engineered, one-of-a-kind glass.
Huge thanks to the Edge team for their trust and collaboration along the way.
After an incredible seven years, Makeout has officially closed its doors. If you were part of our journey, THANK YOU. And please don't be strangers!