Bemoaning the 4:50 p.m. sunset these days? Then head to San Jose, where a series of new interactive, illuminated public artworks will brighten the dark winter nights. The city unveiled the pieces Friday at the light-level appropriate time of 5 p.m.
A veteran of the public art world, Seattle-based Dan Corson has two new projected installations Sensing YOU and Sensing WATER under Highway 87 at Santa Clara and San Fernando Streets. The dynamic -- some say, psychedelic -- projections change in response to pedestrian traffic and the water level of the Guadalupe River, respectively.

San Carlos Street Lantern Relay, designed by San Jose-based team Steve Durie and Bruce Gardner, appears on San Carlos St from Market through Fourth Streets as a series of eight interactive lanterns on lampposts. Buttons at street level allow pedestrians to play with and alter the patterns of the lanterns’ LED light displays.
A similar bit of hands-on interaction is now possible with artist Jim Conti’s Show Your Stripes (2008), a light installation on the facade of The 88 at Second and San Fernando Streets. A new set of program codes added to the work allows the public to “dial in” a light display of their choice via their cell phones, with over 300 options ranging from “Questionable Weather” to “Slow Purple Fruit.”