Dar Luz

Laboratory for Environments, Architecture & Design Inc. (LEAD Inc.), Husnes, Hordaland, Norway

Dr. Lars Meess Olsohn, Leichtbaukunst, Germany

In May 2008 LEAD Inc.was invited to participate in GLOW 2008, “An International Forum of Light in Art and Architecture,” in Eindhoven, Netherlands. LEAD Inc. was one of 20 participants selected from around the world. The site was an enclosed urban space. The proposal considered light as the main material and medium for this spatial construction. The definition of the piece was an interactive performance/installation that engaged the audience in an aural and visual event. It was envisioned as an extended threshold through which one could have a unique experience of light and sound in this urban room.

The rigorous rhythm of the wood scaffold—the main ordering device for the light, sound, sensors, movement and form—was interrupted by the superimposition of other systems. The self-exploratory catwalk structure was altered by a series of laser curtains placed in a rhythmic order within the scaffold to provoke a sense of exploration and entrance in the audience. Made with sharply defined edge conditions, the wall-like planes of light were placed in rhythmic intervals. As a person traveled through the curtains, his or her mass was scanned in a continually animated couture line that triggered lighting and sound systems corresponding to the size and speed of the individual, changing the intensity and pulsation of the ambient light and sound. This direct interaction with the visitor caused an immediate awareness of the visual and aural environment, therefore tuning the person into this particular urban environment. The ambient light and its color were also altered by the same mechanism. As one entered, the slowly pulsating deep blue color changed to a dimmer solid pink-red color, contrasting the green laser curtains and rendering them more visible. The outline of people as they cut through the curtain resembled an animated CAT scan while the sound registered other qualities.

People moved through the piece at their own pace. What was visible and audible had to do with their specific size, speed, posture, form and will. During the 10 days of GLOW 2008, about 150,000 people visited “Dar Luz.” According to the organizers and the volunteer guides, it was one of the most visited and photographed pieces in the exhibit.

LEAD Inc. took a conceptual opposition to the notion of public art as simply installation of art in public places. Loosely based on the theory of social sculpture defined by Joseph Beuys, public art must engage the public actively. Everyone is an artist. Everyone affected this environment and the ultimate atmosphere uniquely.