Forest of Resonating Lamps: One Stroke - a Year in the Mountains
Forest of Resonating Lamps: One Stroke - a Year in the Mountains
Before the modern era in Japan, complex colors born from the characteristics of silk were given descriptive names evocative of the four seasons. Such colors were called Kasane no Irome (nuances of layered colors), and were created by the combination of the lining and exterior fabric (silk was thin at the time so the color of the lining showed through the exterior fabric), gradations from overlapping colors, and blending of warp and weft.
This artwork, in which lamps are seemingly scattered in a random manner, is composed of resonating light that changes based on the relationship between the people in the artwork space. It is a work that expresses the beauty of continuity.
When a person stands still close to a lamp, it shines brightly and emits a sound. The light spreads to the two closest lamps, which in turn similarly emit a sound, spreading their light to the lamps nearest to them. The light, now divided into two, will pass through all of the lamps in the room once, creating a single trajectory of light. The light created by your presence and light created by the presence of others, will always intersect.
Although the lamps may seem randomly scattered, they have been intentionally placed so that regardless of the light’s starting point, or even if the light spreads endlessly, a smooth trajectory of light will always be created, crossing trajectories of light created by other people.
More specifically, the arrangement of the lamps is mathematically determined. When drawing a line between lamps that are closest to each other, the distribution in height, direction of the lamp, and the smoothness of the three-dimensional trajectory is quantified in order to create a unicursal line with the same starting and ending point.
As a result, a lamp’s light triggered by a person’s presence will, regardless of the fact that it is only spreading to the closest lamps, always pass through every lamp only once. The light will always cross the light created by others, and return to the original lamp that started its trajectory.
The arrangement of the lamps may appear random, but it is to express the beauty of the continuity of light, created by people interacting with the lamps from any position.