Inflating Reflector
Installation, 2013 — The Black Box Theater, The Arts Center of the Capital Region, Troy, NY
Installation, 2013 — The Black Box Theater, The Arts Center of the Capital Region, Troy, NY
Inflating Reflector is a dynamic light installation built around a reflector that inflates and deflates in controlled cycles. As the reflector's surface changes in response to the air inflating or deflating, the light projections it reflects transform as well as they swell, contract, and ripple across space. The changing geometry is orchestrated through a scripted actuation system, resulting in a pattern of movement that is both mechanical and organic.
This interplay between breath and projection reveals the underlying structure of the reflector itself, inviting viewers to watch as light articulates volume, texture, and time. Designed by Yael Erel, in conversation with advisors Ted Krueger and Michael Oatman. Technical support was provided by Fleet Hower and Martin Overington, with fabrication and testing support from Bill Bergman and the RPI Architecture Fabrication Shop. Speacial thanks to RPI Studnet Erin Ryan.
Inflating Reflector was exhibited in Subliminal Transcriptions and Light Topographies.
Dimensions: 48″ × 42″ × 24″
Photography and videography by Avner BenNatan, Yael Erel, Joey Falla, Michael Oatman, and Che Wei Wang.
featured in
Subliminal Transcriptions is an exhibition based on the amplification of minuscule environmental conditions that are generally overlooked, resulting in a transcription of the topography of the reflector into light drawings.
As the viewers enters the exhibit they can see the light drawings produced before witnessing the projection mechanism. As they enter deeper into the space, they are exposed to the mechanisms and can explore the light in the space with hand held screens.
The exhibition, which was hosted by the Arts Center of the Capital Region, was the conclusion of Erel's graduate research in architecture and light at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of Architecture.
Installation by Yael Erel
The Black Box Theater - The Arts Center of the Capital Region's (Troy, NY) - June 2013
Advisors: Ted Krueger and Michael Oatman.
Sound: by Torben Pastore and Pauline Oliveros' Expanded Instrument System
Special thanks to the staff and faculty at the Lighting Research Center and the RPI Architecture School, Ed Bear, Martin Overington, Jean Paul Freyssinier, Ute Besenecker, Erin Ryan, Joey Falla, Fleet Hower, Ralph Ghoche, Bill Bergman and the RPI Architecture School Fabrication Shop, Jonas Braasch and Dean Evan Douglis, Avner Ben Natan and lightexture, Royah Ansari and The Arts Center of the Capital Region.
Like entering a spatial microscope, micro topographies are revealed through a simple act of reflection.
This immersive exhibition is grounded in direct physical phenomena, challenging the limits of our perception. Although we understand that a surface contains micro-scale events we cannot easily detect with the naked eye, when they are transcribed through reflection they seem otherworldly and alive.
The exhibition uses light as a projectional drawing device at the scale of architecture. The light drawings are a system composed of a light source, reflector and the surface on which the drawings register, inextricably linking the drawing to its projection. Light and sound here interact similarly to how they would at the oceanside; their correlation too complex to follow but is readily perceived, addressing the multi-modal nature of human perception.
Light and sound are intertwined, drawing visitors into the wonder and complexity inherent in the seemingly simple patterns being transcribed.