Light Art Database
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Silja Selonen: Initial sea

Bright waves of sea and time, 2019

THEME: On the early earth - life was born in the warmth and waves of the sea. Organisms bloomed and created the earth's atmosphere. The living sea hid evolution until it crawled onto the shores. And we still carry the early information and the queue of codons in our DNA and the salty sea water is still in our eyes.

In this work, I thought of waves, as they are basic forms of energy, matter, and gravity. Everything is wavy and made of frequencies and resonances. The world we see is waves of photons, sounds we here are waves of air, and we are sailing thru waves of time.

MATERIALS: The strings that form the waves are stressed between wavy formed frames. Frames are made of steel mesh. Strings are UV reflective materials. The proportions between waves are measured by the golden ratio and they are installed slightly diagonally to frames. This makes the illusion of calmly moving swells.

The artwork is convertible as it can be modified to different sizes. The reflective strings can be stretched latitudinal from 3 to 6 meters and longitudinal from 3 to 10 meters or more. The surge can be installed inside or outside by changing the material of the strings. When mounted up over the viewers, You can imagine being in the deep initial sea. If installed on the terrain at the sea level of the future ocean, it underlines the issue of climate change.

Visual artist BA 2009, MA student, b. 1965, Lives in Lieto, Finland

Information

Artwork finished in: 2019

Which kind of light sources and what other materials and equipment are used? UV spotlights, white thread, steel-frame.

Please provide the dimensions of the work. Approximate size will do. Please mention if the work can be adjusted. (width-height-depth): Size can be adjusted from 10 to 60 m2.

Requirements for the space: darkness, temperature, colouring (light / dark / specific colour / other) etc.: Dark, UV-light sustainable.

Electricity consumption: Standard mains current (10A/16A)

Support and other structures: The work needs support structures, hanging points, or similar.

Please state which structures, hardware or other equipment is needed from the client: Staging, lifters, hanging points, or stable flooring.

Does the artwork use sound? No sound, song of whales can be added.

Minimum height of the space: 2m

Minimum square meters of the space: 9

Building time and people required (estimate): 1-2 workdays, 1-2 workers.

Artist's presence: Artist or their representative must be present during building.

Seen before at: Flash 2 Light Art Biennale , Helsinki, 2019