Dumbo Arts Festival 2012 Preview: Superhero, Codex Dynamic, And Inverted Sky (PHOTOS)

If the crisp, cool air hasn't already got you excited for the upcoming fall season, here's a preview of one of New York's most exciting events, the 16th annual Dumbo Arts Festival, where from September 28th to the 30th, more than 500 artists from around the world will showcase a wide range of installations and interactive performances.

The three-day neighborhood takeover will utilize everything from storefronts to building exteriors as mediums to display the festival's unique exhibits.

Festival director Lisa Kim explains, "The 16th Annual Dumbo Arts Festival will bring the entire neighborhood to life, transforming its streets, parks, bridges, buildings, waterfront, and even sky into canvasses, stages, exhibition spaces. Best of all, it is completely free, enabling everyone to experience extraordinary local, national, and international art at a price that can’t be beat.”

Installations to keep an eye out for this year include:

• Superhero, an interactive projection mapping experience in which festival-goers exhibit superpowers, including flying over the multi-story façade of Empire Stores, shifting their size, throwing light beams, and more. Created by Wildbytes, Superhero is the 2012 AT&T Signature Artwork.
• Codex Dynamic (Leo Kuelbs and John Ensor Parker, curators) is a large-scale video projection exhibition presented on the Manhattan Bridge Anchorage and Archway. Featuring video artworks by internationally renowned video artists, the exhibition is epic-size eye candy that transforms space, time, and our perceived reality.
• Bureau of Apologies 2.0 (Brent Birnbaum): At The Bureau of Apology, participants fill out cards with a series of questions and then drop them in a locked box. Stop by and leave feeling better about yourself.
• Inverted Sky (Erika Harrsch) – Taking place in the sky above Brooklyn Bridge Park, this musical performance will feature kites made of banknotes from different countries transformed into beautiful butterflies
• Tidal Voyage (Nathaniel Lieb) – A floating sculptural garden in the East River featuring large, reflective sculptures including a golden water lily, a disco ball and a satellite
• Bartertown (The Heather Hart Experience) – Participants haggle for something they want their own ideas, services, songs, stories, unwanted goods, handmade art, appliances, or anything they think may hold value.
• Flex is Kings Live - Flex is Kings LIVE is a rare chance to experience the excitement and power of the underground street dance culture of “Flex”. Flex is an East Brooklyn born dance movement made up of many unique styles. This will mark their first public stage performance with Juillard Faculty Jerome Begin and Electro-Cellist Chrissy Lancaster of Tranimal backing them with their quirky eccentric blend of beats bleeps and strings.

Schedule is as follows: Friday, September 28th, 6PM-9PM; Saturday, September 29th, 12PM-8PM; Sunday September 30th, 12PM-6PM.

Below, recall the best of 2011's festival including "Immersive Surfaces" which mesmermized festival-goers with a giant, multi-video projection screened against the Manhattan Bridge Anchorage, Archway.