Artist explains how he hung friendship bracelets on Caesars Superdome

NEW ORLEANS — Taylor Swift is getting a larger-than-life welcome from the Caesars Superdome ahead of her three sold-out nights of the Eras Tour there.
Outside the arena hang four friendship bracelets that stretch 140 feet and read “Taylor Swift The Eras Tour.” Each letter is a circle with a seven-foot diameter.
“Last month the head of marketing reached out to me from the Superdome,” says Shawn Kolodny, a contemporary artist and sculptor who designed the jewelry adorning the arena. “I built 3D models. We drew it all out, came up with sizing and scale that would fit on the side of the stadium. The Superdome gave it to Taylor’s team to make sure everything got approved, make sure colors were right, make sure everything was good, and then we went to fabrication and production.”
The giant inflatable rolls were shipped by air from overseas and delivered outside the stadium on Wednesday. Through trial and error, Kolodny and the staff affixed the bracelets to the walls by Thursday.
“I’ve never strapped anything to the side of a stadium before,” he says. “So there were some learning curves.”
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After securing the large inflatables, the staff put air blowers on the edges of the bracelets to ensure they stay taut. Kolodny, 53, is attending the three-hour-plus show Friday night with his fiancé Jules Dudko. But he wants to get to the Superdome early to watch fans interact with the beaded art.
“That’s the fun part for us,” he says, “to watch people take pictures and make it fun, the Instagram moment and the selfies and things like that. We like that part.”
Swift has three shows in New Orleans on Friday, Saturday and Sunday before heading to Indianapolis, Toronto and Vancouver. The tour will wrap on Dec. 8.
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