Images of Endangered Species Projected Onto the Empire State Building

On Saturday night, artists Louie Psihoyos and Travis Threlkel projected images of endangered species onto the Empire State Building. Using 40 stacked, 20,000-lumen projectors on the roof of a building on West 31st Street, they projected a looping reel of images showing endangered birds, manta rays, fish, snakes, insects, along with a whale, snow lepeord, and Cecil the lion. The art event was meant to draw attention to the creatures’ plight, as well as provide footage for their coming documentary Racing Extinction. “We lit up the Empire State Building with the world’s most beautiful — and threatened — species to show the world what’s at stake…”

This was the first time moving images have ever been displayed on the Empire State Building, and with clarity of 5K resolution, the images were clear up to 20 blocks from the building. So, on Saturday night, Dan and I made our way to 23rd Street and Broadway, right near the Flatiron Building, and saw about an hour of the incredible show. Although my iPhone clips don’t do the show justice, I thought I’d still share a few…

You can read more about Psihoyos and Threlkel and their efforts on their Documentary website, and here’s a great article by the NYTimes. Here are 13 stunning images from the show, and this video has amazing, high-quality footage of the event.

Photo by Craig Ruttle/AP, via Buzz Feed. Quote via Racing Extinction.