New York Neon/Thomas Rinaldi

This talk coincides with the release of Mr. Rinaldi's new book of the same title. The book is a visual tour and history of that iconic element of the cityscape: the neon sign. Treating New York City as an open-air museum, Rinaldi captures the brilliant glow of surviving early- and mid-twentieth-century neon signs, those iconic elements of the cityscape now in danger of disappearing. In the lecture, Mr. Rinaldi will recount the development of signage and the technological evolution of neon, and proceed… Show more to examine its role in the streets of New York, in America’s cultural identity, and in our collective consciousness. At a time of great change in New York, the disappearance of these signs forces us to reflect on the nature of the city's ongoing metamorphosis.

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