Filling the Void acted like a billboard.  It faced downtown. Before, there was nothing that called the YouthLink building out; there wasn’t even a real sign that could be seen.  So this thing, it was illuminated at night, it was colorful, and it was big, and it acted like a beacon or something, and people noticed it.  Not just homeless youth, but people would come and see what it was.

A film was made of the original Filling the Void, by John Akre, who makes short films, animated stuff, and also directs, writes, and creates.  He did a short film of the process. And it was part of an international film competition about public art, called Now You See Me. It was selected and was shown at the Louvre, in Paris, so that was pretty interesting. I thought it was spam when I got an email saying congratulations, Filling the Void has been selected and it’s going to be shown at the Louvre!  I wondered, is there like a Louvre in Texas or something? Or is this even real, or what’s going on? But it was real!

Here’s the 5-minute version:

filling the void