Resonant Wave Festival

Berlin 2002

Visitors to the opening night of the Resonant Wave Festival were treated to many activities, amongst these a surprise that even the organisers knew nothing about. Japanese Butoh dancer, Atsushi Takenouchi, was inspired to perform naked under the Manifold Wave sculpture.

As creator of the light sculpture, I was sitting quietly beside the work, when I was surprised to see the dancer, Atsushi, step gingerly onto the mirror that forms the base of the sculpture. He proceeded to astonish an audience of several hundred who had already been spell bound by their first viewing of my new light sculpture.

 

The sculpture was on show in the 15 metre high main hall of Spannwerk, a new arts centre which has just opened in Berlin. This converted industrial building, a Bauhaus masterpiece and former transformer station once provided all the power for the Berlin tram system. The Resonant Wave Festival was the opening event of this exciting new art centre. Berlin, May 25th - June 8th, 2002

The Main mechanism of the Manifold Wave is seen here in my studio. In this latest work, the rope used to create the display is suspended below an immensely powerful arc light, which has been custom built as an integral part of the sculpture. In the picture, the rope and servomotor have been removed. You can see a wheel below the large lens, which is used as a pulley to moderate the speed of the motor. The rope is attached to the wheel.

The light source, a 4,000 watt HMI arc lamp produces almost 400,000 lumens. The specially designed optics focuses the light into a parallel beam approximately a metre in diameter, which can be modulated by changing the colour, brightness and adding patterns.
   

For more information about the Resonant Wave Festival, go to:

www.resonant-wave.net