Missed the Solstice? You Can Still See the Sunrise That Passes Through Alexandria’s NOW and NEVER Artwork
A Facebook reader asked what makes the phenomenon special. The answer is why it's still worth setting your alarm clock
ALEXANDRIA, VA – After The Zebra published photos of the summer-solstice sunrise aligning with Alexandria’s Now or Never installation, Facebook reader Matthew Holland posed a question many people may have been wondering:
“Don’t most of the art installations down there line up with the rising sun behind them?”
The short answer is no—not like this.
Not a Sunrise Behind the Artwork—A Sunrise Through It
While the sun rises somewhere along the eastern horizon every morning and can appear behind buildings, monuments, and public art, Now or Never was specifically designed around a celestial event. Artist Alicia Eggert designed the installation so that on the Summer Solstice, the golden orb of the rising sun would appear precisely centered between the giant words NOW and NEVER.
In other words, the effect is not simply a sunrise behind a sculpture. It’s a sunrise through the sculpture. And for anyone who saw Saturday’s photos and thought they missed their chance, there is good news: the phenomenon continues beyond the summer solstice.
You Didn’t Miss It
The sun will continue to rise within the opening between the sculptures for days—and likely several weeks—before gradually drifting beyond the edge of the artwork. Visitors hoping to see the effect should arrive at Waterfront Park between 5:25 and 5:35 a.m. Sunrise occurs at approximately 5:43 a.m. this time of year, making the minutes before and after sunrise the best viewing window.
The installation, on display through November as part of the City of Alexandria’s Site See: New Views in Old Town public art series, consists of two monumental sculptures facing one another across a narrow passageway—one reading NOW and the other NEVER.
Why the Alignment Happens
What makes the alignment remarkable is that the sun does not rise in the same place every day.
Because the Earth is tilted on its axis, the sunrise point shifts along the horizon throughout the year. Around the summer solstice, the sun rises at its northernmost position. Eggert designed the artwork so that this annual celestial event would place the rising sun directly between the two sculptures.
The alignment required precise placement. Even a small change in the sculptures’ position or the width of the opening could have caused the effect to miss.
“The sculptures are positioned so that the sun will rise directly between them on the summer solstice,” Eggert explains in her artist statement. “This celestial alignment reinforces the work’s meditation on time and ties the human experience to the larger rhythms of the natural world.”
Eggert has described Now or Never as “a giant clock,” using the movement of the Earth itself as part of the artwork.
Mother Nature had her own plans on the BIG DAY
Clouds and intermittent rain prevented spectators from seeing the sharply defined solar disk. Instead, visitors watched a dramatic red-orange glow fill the opening between NOW and NEVER as the sun rose behind a curtain of clouds.
The alignment itself still occurred, and photographers captured clearer views in the days leading up to the solstice, when the sunrise position was nearly identical.
“Collectively, it speaks to global challenges in which hesitation means opportunity lost,” Eggert writes. “Individually, it reminds us that every moment is a turning point, an opportunity to choose one’s future and to live deliberately from this moment forward.”
For those who thought they missed the moment, the message is simple: you didn’t.
Artist Alicia Eggert designed Now or Never for one perfect Summer Solstice sunrise. But the days that follow offer a lingering encore as the sun continues to rise within the opening before gradually drifting out of alignment.
Saturday was opening night. The show is still running.
