Photo: Roman Signer, ‘Wasserstiefel’, time-sculpture, Weissbad, Switzerland, 1986. Photo via anteism
Roman Signer’s creative, entertaining and sometimes deceptively simple ‘time-sculptures’ and installations employ skillfully applied aspects of engineering and the visual arts – photography, video, sculpture, installation and pyrotechnics. “Signer generates a poetics whose tones range from the melancholy to the thrilling, from the charming to the violent, from the grave to the frankly, irresistibly silly”
Ki Chul Kim, setting for ‘Sound Looking Rain’ at the California Institute of the Arts, Los Angeles, CA, 2007. Photo via transition-turbulence
Ki Chul Kim’s sound installations investigate “the nature of perception and representation in relation to the Buddhist concept of emptiness . . . [inducing] us to float between the opposing forms of sight and sound. Kim also references a formal minimalism as we experience the shifting relationships between sound, speakers, the gallery space and our bodies.”
Nils Voelker, ’64 CCFL’, partial glow of cold cathode flluorescent lamps, 2012 Photo via triangluation
Fluorescence is scientifically defined as “The giving off of light by a substance when it is exposed to electromagnetic radiation, such as [ultraviolet light] . . . as long as electromagnetic radiation continues to bombard the substance.” In terms of the definition, Nils Voelker’s fluorescent installation exhibits admirable aesthetic control of cold cathode current. Custom electronics control the mercury vapor’s emission of UV to ‘bombard’ only a portion of each lamp’s phosphor coating.
Richard Box, fluorescent tubes not-plugged-in, located in England in 2002 Photo via industrytap
The tubes are glowing but not plugged in. The field was planted with 1,301 fluorescent tubes. Overhead electrical transmission lines provided the sole source of power. Radiation energy was absorbed from the electromagnetic field of the powerline – allowing each tube’s mercury gas to emit UV light ‘bombarding’ the phosphor coating to create the glow of fluorescence.
Stuart Williams, ‘Luminous Earth Grid’, fluorescent tubes plugged in north of San Franciisco California, 1993 Photo via designboom
The ‘Luminous Earth Grid’ occupied ten acres with1,680 fluorescent tubes describing contours of the rolling land. Unlike Richard Box’s not-plugged-in ‘Field’, the ultraviolet-related fluorescence of the ‘Grid’ was activated by electrical current. The ‘Grid’ was plugged in by cable connected to nearby powerlines with an additional 12 miles of electrical wiring for the fluorescent tubes.
Sonik Module, design concept for ‘Sity’ – a Spiraling City Project, Shanghai, 2012 Photo via eVolo
The conceptually extravagant megastructure called ‘Sity’ is a design proposal for the city of Shanghai – likened to a gigantic dragon coiling its way through the city. At times the structure reaches 60 stories in height as it loops its way over a man-made river and park. It is designed as a multi-purpose structure with an internal transit system serving upper floors of the ‘Sity’ and touching down at various points to provide access to the activities of the city.
Big Architecture, design for ‘La Maison des Fondateurs’, Audemars Piguet, La Vallée de Joux, Switzerland, 2014 Photo via inhabitant
This striking concept for the new museum and workshop space for the Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piquet feels as thought it emerged naturally from the surrounding gently rolling landscape. An aesthetic double spiral sequences the indoor space into a logical continuum for visitors as though representing the inner workings of a beautifully designed watch. The roof and ceiling are designed as a single piece of metal undulating to allow interplays of interior lighting and daylight.
Bystrup Architecture Design and Engineering, spiral ramp design concept for London’s nine elms bridge, 2015 Photo via designboom
The simple and elegant bridge over the river Thames will be the first bridge for cyclists and pedestrians in central London. The photo itself has a Turner-esque quality and the spiral ramps at each end give it an alive spring-like feeling. One of the challenges is to give the bridge height above the Thames to allow movement of river traffic without an excessively steep incline for cyclists and pedestrians.
Robert Smithson, ‘Spiral Jetty’, Great Salt Lake, UT, 1970 Photo via panoramio
Smithson’s famous large-scale earthwork ‘Spiral Jetty’ was recently recognized by the state of Utah as an official state work of land art. Located in the algae-reddish northeastern shore of Great Salt Lake, the jetty is designed to be several inches above the water level. Depending on the season, it may be fully submerged or exposed on the dry salt flat. 15 feet wide and 1500 feet long, the jetty used more than 6000 tons of rock and earth. The art historical significance and beauty of the jetty in its remote location will continue to attract visitors to walk the spiral in the drier seasons and perhaps the wet.
Cara Phillips has created a fascinating contemplative-feeling portrait portfolio inspired by ultraviolet photography used in the medical profession to visualize the ‘state of the skin’. The project reveals “every tiny little imperfection across a person’s face. To produce the black and white series, the artist set up on the streets of New York with a sign that said ‘Free Portraits’. Any willing participants agreed to sit down right there [close their eyes] and have their photo taken underneath a UV light.” –fstoppers
NASA, UV photo of sun during a rare solar eclipse by Venus, 2013 Photo via NASA
The ultraviolet photo was taken while the sun was eclipsed by Venus in 2013. Telescopes in NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) are able to reveal in stunning detail the sun’s extreme ultraviolet activity that takes place unseen by the human eye. As described by NASA the eclipsed sun “was imaged in three colors of ultraviolet light by the Earth-orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory, with the dark region toward the right corresponding to a coronal hole. . . . The next Venusian solar eclipse will occur in 2117.”
Bioluminescent phytoplankton, Hobart, Tasmania Photo via CSIRO
Bioluminescent phytoplankton display a vibrant bluish greenish light when disturbed or agitated by wave action – creating a night time spectacle. Bioluminescence occurs in the microscopic living organisms when the enzyme luciferase catalyzes oxidation of the chemical luciferin to a light-emitting state. Luciferin is well named – originating from the Latin word lucifer, ‘bearer of light’.
Benthem Crouwel Architects, ‘Lightwaves’, 2016-17 Photo via Materia
The architectural firm developed the ‘Lightwaves’ concept for the Amsterdam Festival of Light. The night installation mimics bioluminescence of phytoplankton using light emitted by electricity rather than biochemically – and disturbed by wind rather than water. activity. As the wind blows, the veil transforms into waves that light a multitude of LED lights into airborne simulations of phytoplankton.
Bioluminescent phytoplankton from the whale scene in the movie ‘Life of Pi’, 2012 Photo via 3dartistonline
The leaping whale scene in the movie ‘Life of Pi’ is a stunning visualization of the disturbance of bioluminescent phytoplankton floating at the ocean’s surface. It is a magical sequence filmed in a massive custom-built wave pool. Blended camerawork and digital effects have created an awesome representation of the natural phenomenon.
Hunter Cole, ‘The Entomologist I: Portrait of Bob Hamilton’, photo by light of bioluminescent bacteria, Photo via interaliamag
The geneticist and artist, Hunter Cole combined biological knowledge and visual skills to create this unusual and provocative photograph. Cultures of living bioluminescent bacteria in petri dishes act as lamps in the darkness providing the sole light source for the photograph. Production of light by bioluminescent bacteria is similar to the light bearing luciferin-luciferase chemistry of bioluminescent phytoplankton.
