First featured at Subliminal Transcriptions Installation, 2013 — The Black Box Theater, The Arts Center of the Capital Region, Troy, NY
Shifting Air is a light installation built around a quietly reactive system: a mylar reflector rests atop a layer of air, which is redistributed by a motorized arm that glides gently beneath its surface. As the air shifts, so does the topography of the reflector—bending light into ever-changing forms that ripple across the surrounding space.
This interplay of surface and movement generates a living lightscape, one shaped not by direct manipulation but by breath-like displacement. What appears subtle is, in fact, deeply choreographed—an atmospheric drawing rendered by pressure, contour, and projection.
The piece was developed by Yael Erel and Avner BenNatan, with technical contributions by Avner BenNatan, Che Wei Wang, and Fleet Hower. It was exhibited in Projecting Topographies, Revealing Lightscapes, and Subliminal Transcriptions. The installation was supported by research contributions from RPI Architecture student Erin Ryan and was advised by Ted Krueger and Michael Oatman.
Dimensions: 6′ × 3′ × 2′
Photography and videography by Yael Erel and Avner BenNatan
Photography and videography by Yael Erel and Avner BenNatan.
featured in
Subliminal Transcriptions - 2013
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.
Revealing Lightscapes - 2014
Revealing Lightscapes is an interactive light exhibition at The Museum of Innovation and Science in Schenectady, NY. The installation, primarily targeted to young viewers, explores the principles of reflection through interaction and play.
The exhibition reveals different micro topographies of reflective surfaces as projected light drawings. The exhibition is an immersive laboratory composed of elements at various scales, each one using a light source, a reflective surface, and a screen to magnify minuscule atmospheric conditions that are normally overlooked.
The exhibition is grounded in direct physical phenomena that challenges the liminal nature of our senses - though we understand that a surface contains events at a micro-scale which we cannot easily detect with our eyes, when they are transcribed through a simple act of reflection, they become tactile and otherworldly.
Projecting Topographies - 2014
Projecting Topographies reveals different micro topographies of reflective surfaces as projected light drawings. The exhibition is an immersive laboratory composed of elements at various scales, each one using a light source, a reflective surface, and a screen to magnify minuscule atmospheric conditions that are normally overlooked.
The exhibition is grounded in direct physical phenomena that challenges the liminal nature of our senses - though we understand that a surface contains events at a micro-scale which we cannot easily detect with our eyes, when they are transcribed through a simple act of reflection, they become tactile and otherworldly.