Computer controlled light work for Lille 2004 - European Cultural Capital, 2004
"nature04" is a public project, transforming the 20 story Lilleurope Tower
into a luminous kinetic sculpture during Lille 2004 - European Cultural
Capital.
On an architectural scale, this project, like the earlier "lichtwerk" for
the IBM headquarters in Vienna (Austria) in 2001, addresses the actual space of
a city.
"nature04" dramaturgy is based on the idea of a jaquemart, a mechanical
public clockwork, the basis of our technologically advanced culture. The
mechanical clock, giving the time by slicing it up in standardized temporal
units, marks the final transition from experiencing time as a continuum without
a beginning and an end to perceiving it as sequential, as a sequence of discrete
events lined up on a timeline.
"nature04" is taking the concepts of time, sequence and the matrix to create
a contemporary jaquemart, an ephemeral clockwork composed of animated lights, a
clock of light displaying specific kinetic patterns and prints throughout the
night.
In cycles, bursts of light spread over the sides of the tower and then, subside
again, like a wave that has washed ashore and emptied itself. Eventually there
is only darkness and stillness - the tower rests as if exhausted by all the
excitement displayed. Regaining "consciousness" at specific moments, these
light patterns, often display static icons on the screen at the conclusion of a
sequence of waves, functioning like punctuation marks along the timeline.