With new art on San Francisco's skyline, Christmas lights are just the beginning

San Francisco Travel Assn.

At the border of North Beach and Chinatown: "Language of the Birds," by Brian Goggin and Dorka Keehn. This permanent site-specific sculpture stands at Broadway and Columbus avenues. In the work, which lights up at night, books mimic birds in flight, with lights creating patterns. Words in English, Italian and Chinese are also featured.

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If you're an art lover or a light-seeker and you're headed to San Francisco in coming weeks, be ready for several additions to your usual itinerary. The city has recently added several public artworks involving light -- some temporary, some permanent. Together they're known as Illuminate SF. This gallery shows four of them.

Christoper Reynolds