Endangered species light up New York’s Empire State building

(AP Photo/Craig Ruttle). Large images of endangered species are projected on the south facade of The Empire State Building, Saturday, August 1, 2015.

No, it’s not the return of King Kong.

Travis Threlkel – the Chief Creative Officer and co-founder of Obscura Digital – and filmmaker and photographer Louie Psihoyos will project digital photographs of endangered species onto the building as part of an art event.

In 2011 the top portion of the Empire State building was lit up in red to symbolize the blood of the slaughter depicted in ‘The Cove.’.

From 9 p.m.to 12 a.m., New Yorkers will be able to spot a snow leopard, a golden lion tamarin and manta rays, along with snakes, birds and various mammals and sea creatures projected on the landmark building. The creators called the event “a weapon of mass instruction” to the Times and said they hope to spark concern and activism for the endangered species.

The eight-minute sessions were repeated every 15 minutes from 21:00 to 24:00 local time (01:00 to 04:00 GMT) and were visible from nearly 20 blocks away. The building now stands at the forefront of environmental awareness, after a refurbishing in 2009 made it into one of the most sustainable buildings in New York, as mentioned by The New York Times.

The ambitious project, which costs about $1 million to produce, is part of Psihoyos’s next documentary, “Racing Extinction“, which is set to have a theatrical release in the fall, and then be shown internationally through the Discovery Channel in December.