A2C5T celebrates with light art experience
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The 45,000sq.m former police barracks provided an atmospheric backdrop for this multi-level light art experience, which was inspired by the core tenets at the heart of ACT - Art, Concept and Technology.
Within the installation, these three values were represented by three abstract intersecting works of creative lighting, carefully curated by Koert to offer a different but equally compelling immersive experience for guests. The three elements could be enjoyed individually or as one, or as a user-definable mix of several different components.
Complete with a special soundtrack compiled by Solemn Eye / 70 Hills Music / Marco Macaluso, visitors could lose themselves in the ephemeral magic of light, colour, texture, and other visual effects.
The central piece was Technology, and this was created using 36 Robe Spikies, 20 SilverScans and 16 T1 Profiles.
While the emphasis was on the technology, this was delivered as a sculpted work of art.
The SilverScans were rigged at one edge of the installation space on a scaffolding frame flown from the ceiling, arranged four wide and five deep, while the Spikies stood on a series of low wooden plinths stood in front of and around the centre of the space.
Both these fixtures were chosen for their speed and rapid movement and the Spikies specifically for their continuous rotation.
“It was vital that the lights - the technology - came alive and essentially became ‘actors’ in this key piece,” explains Koert, adding that the Spikes were ideal with their small size “resembling little robots.”
For the many children who visited with their families - the installation took place just before the COVID-19 lockdown - the Spikies were at a similar height. They became transfixed by the lights which stood there almost incidentally, begging the smaller members of the audience to become their friends.
“It’s a very cute fixture,” says Koert, “and in this context, people were sometimes drawn more to the physical shape and form of the lights themselves than the luminescence they produced!
The T1s were used to architecturally light the general room space, together with 42 Anolis Divine fixtures - a mix of black light (UV) and RGBW units. 10 of the UVs were used outside the building, and Koert comments that when they stage A2C5T outdoors, the intention is to use T1s extensively to light trees and other surrounding foliage.
Lighting for all three artworks was programmed and run on a grandMA2, with a SMODE media sever also triggered via the grandMA which dealt with the 3D pixel mapping elements in Art and Concept.
A2C5T opened on the day of ACTLD’s actual 25th birthday celebration, and thereafter was open to the public and enjoyed by approximately 10,000 people.
Everything came to an abrupt halt in terms of public shows due to the Coronavirus pandemic, but the bigger plan has always been for Koert and ACTLD to take this installation experience to other venues, sites and countries as soon as is possible.
Other specific ACTLD collaborators with Koert were content director Lucia do Souto, technical director Luc De Climmer and concept artist Taddéus Fraylich. Christopher Bolton as lighting programmer.
Their A2C5T sponsors in Brussels were Robe, EPIX (the bespoke project division of Explorentis), FACE and PRG. Others involved on the technical production side included Astral Lasers, SMODE, Lux Lumen and SGM.
