Arizona State Capitol Holiday Lights Display, Phoenix, 2002

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Arizona State Capitol Holiday Lights Display, Phoenix, 2002 — Archive & Atlas

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Arizona State Capitol Holiday Lights Display, Phoenix, 2002 — Archive & Atlas

Unattributed 2002

AA-2026-BB7B10

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Every December, someone in Arizona state government decides that the Capitol building needs to look less like the seat of democratic authority and more like a casino that has been informed Christmas is mandatory. By 2002 the tradition had escalated to the point where the roofline, the trees, the columns, and anything else that would hold a staple gun was outlined in tens of thousands of bulbs, the whole enterprise photographed from a distance that turns it into a warm amber blaze against the Phoenix night.

The civic logic behind decorating a government building this elaborately was never fully articulated but was widely understood: taxpayers who feel festive are less likely to think hard about what is happening inside. The trees wrapped in vertical strings of lights function as exclamation points the architect never intended, and the stacked rooflines of the Arizona State Capitol's distinctive profile become something between a crown and a layer cake.

There is a specific confidence in the early-2000s holiday lighting aesthetic — more is more, warm amber beats tasteful white, and the darkness around the building is not atmosphere but simply everything that ran out of extension cord.

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