Artists want to turn the Tobin Bridge into eco-art

If you’ve driven over the Tobin Bridge, or at looked it from a distance, you probably know it isn’t all that pretty. But the Boston-based collective MASARY Studios sees aesthetic potential in the double deck cantilever truss bridge between connecting Chelsea and Charlestown. The group wants to transform the Tobin into an illuminated public art work that engages with the environment.

MASARY presented its plans at the ClimaTech conference which kicked off Boston’s first Climate Week. The multi-media artists are known for engineering immersive experiences including Solstice at Mount Auburn Cemetery.

Since 2021, MASARY has been developing their concept, titled “Eco-Rhythms,” that would animate the Tobin with light that visualizes tidal patterns in the waterways around the bridge.

“It gives us a canvas to explore how we can bring these rhythms to life,” MASARY co-founder Ryan Edwards said of the large-scale installation. “We’ll work with sensors that are placed all over the Boston Harbor by existing parties that are monitoring ocean health, and also looking at historical patterns of how those rhythms have changed.”

The lighting on the bridge’s steel beams would function something like a tide clock.

“We’re still researching the best way to deploy these rhythms,” Edwards said. “It’s like we’re building an instrument, and we’re going to be asking the ecological rhythms of our coastal area to play it.”

He hopes the project will raise awareness about the realities of climate change. “I think a project like this will contribute to a felt sense of connection to our ecology and encourage more conversations, action and favorable policy so the climate literacy of our region grows.”

MASARY has been collaborating with partners including the City of Chelsea and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation which operates the bridge.

About 87,000 cars traverse the Tobin each day. It’s New England’s longest bridge, spanning two miles along Route 1. The bridge is also a highly-visible landmark that can be seen from Cambridge, Somerville, East Boston, Everett and Chelsea. Edwards said people flying into Logan Airport at night would be able to peer down at the illuminated bridge. He believes it would add a new “skyline statement” to the city.

Lindsey Butler, executive director of the Green Ribbon Commission, said “Eco-Rhythms” highlights the need for more novel ways to communicate climate awareness.

“Sea-level rise is a present and growing threat to our communities in Boston and Chelsea, but we don’t see the problem everyday,” she said in the project’s announcement. “Public art of this scale can help us see the science in a different way and alter our cultural mindset.”

Chelsea is one of the most climate-vulnerable cities in the state and its relationship to the Tobin is complicated. When the bridge was constructed between 1948 and 1949,  several neighborhoods were demolished and residents were displaced.

Chelsea city manager Fidel Maltez acknowledged the Tobin as both a symbol of home and a reminder of the past.

“To this day, many of our residents who abut the Tobin Bridge live with significant burdens for the benefit of our region. This is why I am particularly excited with the idea of illuminating the Tobin Bridge.”

At the ClimaTech conference Lourdes Alvarez Silva shared similar views. She’s the arts and cultural assistant director with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council.

“This is a bridge used by thousands of drivers on a daily basis, but you don’t see that many visitors in Chelsea,” Alvarez Silva said. “So for our community this project is like a mentality boost that says we are part of the region and not just the in-between for someone going to work in Boston.”

For her, illuminating the Tobin feels like a metaphor for lighting up Chelsea and making it more visible. “This is part of our urban rhythm that we suffer from all the time — the drivers, the light pollution, the sound from the planes,” Alvarez Silva said. “These are the issues we have in our community.”

If approvals and fundraising goals are met, MASARY predicts the installation could launch in 2027 or 2028.