This time of year is so overrated. Long summer evenings can be, well, a bit long.

Tired of staring at the scenery?

Light up your life with a visit to the "Scattered Light" installation by Jim Campbell, illuminating evenings at Upper Landing Park in St. Paul through July 24.

This Friday night, you'll have the rare opportunity to get up close and personal with it and enjoy music (Matthew Inkala & the Hostages) and refreshments.

San Francisco artist Jim Campbell created the artwork for Madison Square Park in New York. It features more than 2,000 lightbulbs sawed off and replaced with LEDs, so it uses less electricity than a toaster while paying homage to the good old-fashioned, fading bulb.

From a distance, as it was designed to be viewed, you'll see shadow-like people strolling through it as programmed from Grand Central Station footage.

However, on select Friday nights (July 8 and July 22), the barriers will come down and you can enter the sculpture and interact with it. It's a cool, "Starry Night" kind of feeling, brought to you by the Minnesota Museum of American Art for its Patio Nights @ City House.

That experience will add another cool layer of meaning to "Scattered Light." As the artist told us: "I like to make things that are really complicated, but look simple."

Now there's a bright idea.

"Scattered Light" by Jim Campbell, nightly through July 24. Minnesota Museum of American Art Patio Nights @ City House, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., Friday and July 22nd, Upper Landing, St. Paul, free admission.