Nowadays, no one will be surprised that LED light bulbs can be used not only to illuminate rooms, but also to create amazing light sculptures. But seeing one of these installations with your own eyes is like magic. We invite you to immediately plunge into the world of light and art and look at the interesting light sculptures created by contemporary artists over the past few years.
LED flower field in Australia
The author who created such an amazing LED show under open air, became a famous British contemporary artist named Bruce Munro. The light installation opened in April 2016 and is located in National Park Australia.
Near one of the park’s rocks, Bruce occupied an entire field, which was filled with light sculptures in the form of flowers. These flowers are made of LEDs, in daytime they are charged with sunlight- this is what allows them to glow in the dark.
3D light installation in Hong Kong
Artist Jim Campbell, who creates LED light installations, staged one in Hong Kong in 2014. For a week, the city square of Edinburgh Place was illuminated by a grid of more than one and a half thousand LED flickering bulbs, which created a unique fairy-tale atmosphere in the city.
The length of this structure was about five meters. If you look at the grid from afar, you could notice interesting lighting effects: the flickering of the light bulbs did not occur randomly, but according to a certain pattern - the extinguished lights formed the dark silhouettes of passers-by hurrying past. The flickering of the light bulbs was controlled using a computer program.
Giant light bulbs in Lyon
Light installations became a feature of 2014 - another one took place in December in Lyon, France. The installation was accompanied by a bright and large-scale light show. Nine huge light bulbs, the size of a large car, were installed on an area the size of a football field.
The light sculptures are stylized not like more modern fluorescent and LED light bulbs, but like incandescent lamps. The main theme of the installation is the relationship between man and electricity.
Light sculptures in the form of prisms in Montreal
In late 2014, Toronto-based design studio RAW mounted an installation in Montreal of fifty rotating two-metre glass prisms. Colored light effects on the prisms were made using built-in light projectors that illuminated each prism: the walls of the prisms, in turn, were covered with a special film that reflected the visible radiation of the spectrum.
This light installation attracted the attention of both adults and children - they especially liked to rotate the light sculptures, the bell ringing when untwisted.
Christmas tree made from plastic bags in the UK
On the one hand, Christmas is a wonderful and bright time that is pleasant to spend with those closest to you, but on the other hand, the entire holiday season is shrouded in huge spending and consumerism. In 2013, the art collective Luzinterruptus from Madrid decided to draw attention to Christmas shopaholism with the help of the “Consumer Christmas Tree” erected in the English city of Durham - a cone-shaped light sculpture constructed from thousands of colored plastic bags. It would seem that even out of garbage you can make a masterpiece!
In just one week, volunteers helped assemble the giant conical structure and set up the tree's lighting. The same bags were used to decorate Christmas light garlands strung between houses. The period of construction of the tree coincided with a strike by workers of waste collection companies in Madrid, so the artists presented the tree as a symbol of solidarity with the workers.
LED star in Malaysia
In 2015, Malaysian artist Zhong Hao Ong installed a light sculpture in the form of a giant ten-pointed star in one of the unfinished buildings in the city of Butterworth. The light figure is designed in such a way that its rays occupy four floors of the building, as if piercing right through it. The art installation “Star” consists of steel cables and five hundred meters of LED strip.
Butterworth was once one of the wealthiest ports in the country. Nowadays, the components required to create LED light bulbs are produced here, so Zhong Hao Ong considers his installation symbolic for the city, opening a glimpse of a new future.
Glowing mangrove forest in Sydney
In 2015, students and staff from the Abidian School of Architecture at Bond University in Australia created this stunningly beautiful light installation that looks like a bioluminescent mangrove forest. This art installation is reminiscent of the fairy-tale nature of the moon Pandora from famous movie"Avatar" by James Cameron.
These light sculptures follow the contours of Australian mangrove forests with their spreading branches and overgrown roots, creating a fascinating environment for adults and children to watch the LED “trees” change color. The light sculptures were highly appreciated by the public - over 50 thousand people came to see the light show on the opening evening.
Solar powered light sculptures in Portland
In Portland, Oregon, an art installation was staged in 2013, intended to provide people with a distraction from pressing problems - that was the idea, according to artist Dan Corson.
The open-air light sculptures in this installation are reminiscent of pitcher plants - exotically shaped tropical insectivorous plants with long stems and a “pitcher” at the end. The height of the light figures reaches as much as five meters. The basis of each sculpture is a steel frame with LEDs. The shape of each “flower” is fiberglass, each of them is illuminated different colors. But the most interesting thing is that the energy of LEDs comes not from electrical power, but from solar panels.
Thousands of glowing roses in Hong Kong
Many light installations are based on such beautiful and win-win objects as flowers - this light show in Hong Kong was no exception. The scale of the installation is amazing - 25 thousand LED roses were “planted” in the city park in winter. These light sculptures were placed by contemporary artist Jang Yong Jin from the creative collective Pancom.
This light show called “Light Rose Garden” was dedicated to the holiday of all lovers - Valentine's Day.
Huge Illumination Park in Dubai
Dubai Garden Glow Illumination Park in Dubai, UAE - a light show that you can watch all year round. There you can see a variety of light installations and the lighting effects used in them. The park opened at the end of 2015 and is one of the largest illuminated parks in the world - an application for this has already been submitted to the Guinness Book of Records.
The light sculptures in this park represent animals and flora: there are fabulous trees and flowers, elephants, pandas, swans, giraffes, even dinosaurs. It is noteworthy that all of these sculptures are made from recycled material, and only energy-efficient light bulbs are used to create the bright neon light.
British artist Bruce Munro, born 1959, studied at the Royal Western Academy, Bristol Polytechnic.
The designer's strong point is landscape lighting. Using acrylic tubes with decorative tips and optical fiber, Bruce achieves fantastic effects.
Munro's portfolio includes original lamps, lighting projects for private gardens and city streets, and much more. And from time to time, his ideas result in large-scale and spectacular installations, which brought the designer well-deserved fame.
One of the studio’s most high-profile projects is the Field of Light installation as part of the Eden Project in Cornwall, England. The installation was installed on the grass roof of the exhibition center and consisted of 6,000 acrylic tubes topped with glass spheres containing optical fibers.
Munro and his five assistants created the work over three days. The installation is illuminated by eleven spotlights; the stems, by themselves, have no electricity. The area covered with luminous grass is 60x20 meters, 24,000 meters of optical cable were used.
Munro's luminous masterpiece was inspired by a trip to the red desert in Australia. Driving along the Stewart Highway, he stopped every night at campuses along the road, which often created a very contrasting appearance to the surrounding barren desert: oases of greenery embodying living sculptures of surreal design and proportions.
Munro was amazed by the natural processes in the desert: the bare, scorched earth came to life and blossomed after the rain. He made a series of sketches and kept them since his college days.
The Field of Light is an alien, a stranger in the natural world. Like seeds thrown onto a desert land that wait for the rain to come to life, the optical stems wait for the darkness and, together with the lighting stars, come to life and shine, corresponding to the smooth rhythms of the night.
The Light Shower project at Salisbury Cathedral is a giant luminaire consisting of 2,000 pieces of fiber optic cable of varying lengths, illuminated by powerful floodlights.
In ancient English Salisbury, the desire to keep up with the times led to the appearance of another very unusual installation on the territory of the ancient cathedral:
Water-Towers / Water towers are assembled from 15 thousand plastic bottles filled with water, through which 69 kilometers of fiber optic cable are passed. Their shape resembles water towers, which explains the name of the project. The optical fiber is illuminated with LEDs that change color to the music, making the water columns appear to be dancing in the dark.
The main idea of the installation is Divine Light, joy, enlightenment. “Illumination” is the key word in this project.
Bruce Monroe: "I'm primarily interested in light! And how people react to it different materials. For my project, I was looking for a cheap, pliable, and, most importantly, accessible material. And it dawned on me - this is a bottle."
The rector of the cathedral thought that the installation would be made of glass. And when I found out that they would bring plastic bottles, I had to convene a church council.
Mark Boni, pastor: “I won’t explain anything! I say, go and see for yourself. Paintings and sculptures are created so that we look and think. Art begins where it is difficult to find words.”
Within a few days we got used to the “Water Towers”. In the evenings, photographers and loving couples gather near them. A new attraction has appeared in the city.
CD Sea / Sea of CDs.
Bruce Munro, with the help of the British press and BBC Wiltshire radio, appealed to readers and listeners with a request to send him unwanted CDs. People did not remain indifferent, not only the British, but also residents of other countries, and after some time, through the efforts of Bruce, another sea appeared in Britain - laid out from CDs on the grass.
On June 19-20, 2010, Bruce Munro, as well as 140 of his friends, acquaintances and colleagues began creating the installation. In a field near the village of Kilmington, they mowed a patch of grass and began laying discs in the resulting clearing. The result was an amazing “inland” sea, consisting of 600 thousand CDs) reflecting the sun and moonlight like little mirrors.
Bruce Munro was inspired to create this installation by the impressions he received on the seashore in Australia thirty years ago. “The light was so strong that the water seemed to glow silver. And it suddenly seemed to me that if I put my hand in the sea, it would somehow connect me to my home in Salcombe, where my father lived... I left the beach in a very good mood"- says the author. That day the boy realized for the first time that such a familiar phenomenon as light can influence a person's emotional state. The installation "CD Sea" was a recreation of that moment, which, as it later turned out, influenced the whole later life Bruce Munro.
The installation lasted for about two months, after which all the disks were collected and sent to a processing plant.
Longwood Gardens - Longwood Gardens -
called the American answer to the famous gardens of Europe and recognized as an example of a harmonious combination of gardening, architecture, music and theater
Bruce Munro has been invited to create a large-scale exhibition, LIGHT!, which will open in the summer of 2012. For the designer, this will be the first light installation in North America. The organizers promise an unforgettable spectacle.
It is assumed that the LIGHT! will include seven huge light installations in open areas, two in the premises of the Conservatory with an area of 16 thousand square meters, as well as a small exhibition of artfully illuminated sculptures.
The glowing globes, made from blown glass and plastic, will be connected by an electrical “root system” and placed in a large open area.
The luminous field of Bruce Munro seems like a fairy-tale island, it is unclear how it ended up in a gray reality. Although, according to the designer himself, this is not magic, but just new level in the development of light sculptures.
An unusual installation was created as part of the Eden Project in Cornwall (England) last winter. Typically, Bruce Munro's work consists of thousands of acrylic tubes topped with a ball. They contain optical fibers illuminated by an external projector, so the tubes do not require electricity to light up. To create a luminous field measuring 20x60 meters, the designer needed 6 thousand acrylic pipes, and the total length of the fibers used was 24 thousand meters!
Light generally plays an important role in the work of Bruce Munro. “For me it’s a natural material that can be used,” says the designer.
Bruce was inspired to create such an installation by the Australian desert, which he saw 15 years ago. He was fascinated by the sudden appearance of flowers in the desert after a thunderstorm. Munro was also completely intrigued by the strange, oasis-like sculptures that decorated the campgrounds along the road - like giant bananas or pineapples. Amazed, he made a series of sketches, and since then the idea of displaying this beauty in his work has not left him. His Field of Light undoubtedly became the very bright flower in the impenetrable darkness of the night.
The Field of Light is a huge installation located right in the middle of nature. And just as dry seeds lie in the desert sands waiting for rain, the plants from Bruce’s installation lie dormant until darkness sets in, and then bloom in soft, mysterious colors.
Olafur Eliasson is a contemporary Danish-Icelandic artist, known for large-scale art installations that use simple elements and phenomena such as light, water, temperature, and pressure to enhance the effect. The artist works on a number of projects in the field of urbanism in many cities around the world. And in 2003, Olafur Eliasson represented Denmark at the 50th Venice Biennale.
Olafur Eliasson. Biography
Born in Copenhagen in 1967. His parents moved to Denmark from Iceland. His father worked as a cook, his mother was a seamstress. When Olafuru was 8 years old, his parents divorced, and he lived with his mother and stepfather, a stockbroker.
Olafur himself considers breakdancing to be his first creative attempts. In the mid-1980s, he and his school friends created a group called the Harlem Gun Crew. The guys performed in clubs and on dance floors for 4 years and even won the Scandinavian Championship.
Between 1989 and 1995 Olafur Eliasso n studied at the Royal Danish Academy fine arts. In 1990, he received a scholarship from the Academy and went to New York, where he began working as an assistant to artist Christian Eckhart in Brooklyn.
After receiving a degree from the Academy, he opened a studio in Berlin - in an old depot near the Hamburger station. In 2008 the studio Eliasson moved to a former brewery in Prenzlauer Berg.
In 1996, the artist began collaborating with Einar Thorstein, an expert in architecture and geometry. First them general product became a stainless steel dome, more than 9 meters wide and 2 meters high. It was placed as if it was growing out of the ground, being part of something much larger, hidden from view underground.
In 2009-2014 he was a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts. During this period, he opened the Institute of Spatial Experiments in his studio. And since 2014, he has been a professor at the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design in Addis Ababa.
Olafur Eliasson. Famous works
Project "Weather" at Tate Modern in London
The project was installed in 2003 as part of the famous “Unilevel” series. Using a mixture of water and sugar, as well as humidifiers and hundreds of monochrome light bulbs that emitted yellow light, Eliasson created a kind of fog in one of the gallery halls. At the same time, the ceiling was mirrored, and visitors could see themselves - small figures in the fog. Running for 6 months, the exhibition attracted 2 million visitors, many repeat visitors.
Project "Weather"
Light installations
The work “Room of the same color” (1998) represents a corridor illuminated by yellow mono-frequency pipes. Walking through it, the visitor sees all the surrounding objects in black and white. By the way, this installation was once presented at the PinchukArtCentre along with other works Olafur Eliasson.
The work “Your Blind Passenger” (2010), commissioned by the museum contemporary art Arkena is a 90-meter tunnel filled with thick fog, along which the visitor should move, I rely rather on my sixth sense.
Project "Green River"
Having discovered in 1998 the existence of readily available non-toxic uranine powder, which is used to track leaks in water supply systems, he began to actively use it in his installations. The fact is that uranine colors water acidic fluorescent green. For the first time Eliasson used it in 1998 at the Berlin Biennale, pouring a handful of powder into the Spree River near Museum Island. Later experiments with the safe dye were carried out in Norway, Bremen, Los Angeles, Stockholm and Tokyo - and always without prior notice.
Project "Green River"
Icelandic photos
Periodically presents grids of various color photographs taken exclusively in Iceland. Each group focuses on a specific subject: volcanoes, hot springs, authentic huts. In its first episode Eliasson tried to remove all the bridges in Iceland. He often takes his photographs from the air, on a rented plane.
Icelandic photos
"Your mobile expectations"- general project Olafur Eliasson and the BMW company, in which the artist transformed the 16th art car of this company by applying layers of ice to the car body by spraying 530 liters of water onto special rods and meshes. The created sculpture glowed from within. In 2007-2008, the project “Your Mobile Expectations” was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco in a special temperature-controlled room, and in 2008 at the Pinakothek of Contemporary Art in Munich. Let us remind you that racing cars BMW has already painted such famous contemporary artists, like , Jeff Koons and others.
Project "Your Mobile Expectations"
"New York Falls"- created Olafur Eliasson commissioned by the Public Art Fund for four artificial waterfalls in New York Harbor, namely at the Pier, under the Brooklyn Bridge, at the Brooklyn Pier and on Governors Islands. The installation was in effect from June 26 to October 13, 2008. Its creation cost $15.5 million and, according to opinion, became Eliasson, the perfect way pay attention to strength and potential natural resources. After sunset, each waterfall was illuminated, creating a stunning impression.
New York Falls Project on the Brooklyn Bridge
"Parliament of Reality"- permanent work housed at Bard College in New York. The installation is based on the form of the original Icelandic parliament - one of the earliest democratic forums. The artist conceived this project as a place where students can relax, discuss ideas, or just chat. The Parliament of Reality emphasizes that negotiation must be the core of any educational scheme. The project is an artificial island surrounded by a lake, trees and wild grasses.
"Your Rainbow Panorama"- Job Olafur Eliasson, which is a round 150-meter corridor with a diameter of 52 meters, made of glass in all colors of the rainbow and placed on the roof of the Art Museum in Aarhus in 2011. Visitors, walking along the corridor, can admire the city panorama. The production of Your Rainbow Panorama cost DKK 60 million and was financed by the Realdania Foundation.
Project "Your Rainbow Panorama".
"Contact"- exhibition of works Olafur Eliasson, opened at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris on December 17, 2015. Moving from room to room, visitors became part of a choreography of darkness, light, geometry and reflection. You can see many photos from the Contact exhibition.
Exhibition "Contact" in Paris
Olafur Eliasson. Exhibitions and collections
Participant of more than 60 solo exhibitions, his works are currently presented at the Solomon Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and others.
Work on the art market Olafur Eliasson represented by Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in New York, Koyanaji Gallery in Tokyo, PKM Gallery in Seoul and Neugarriemschneider Gallery in Berlin.
Olafur Eliasson. Personal life
He is married to Marienne Krogh Jensen, an art historian whom he met when she curated the Danish Pavilion at the 1997 São Paulo Biennale in Portugal. They adopted two children, a boy in 2003 and a girl in 2006, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The family lives in a house designed by architect Andreas Laurits Clemensen in Hellerup near Copenhagen.
Acrylic in architecture
Plexiglas and light are the ideal combination for creating decorative compositions that surprise with their novelty and creativity. Light radiation acquires a magical shine when reflected in glossy or matte acrylic glass. Light has the ability to penetrate the structure of acrylic, merge with it, forming a completely new “element” that can be admired forever. The technique of combining acrylic and light is used by many modern innovative designers who create extraordinary lamps from plexiglass.
Light geometry: plexiglass lamps from Carlo Bernardini
Italian artist Carlo Bernardini became famous for his light masterpieces created using fiber optic cables. In some works the artist uses angular blanks of transparent acrylic glass. To see the clear shape of the light geometric shapes, you need to choose a strictly defined point of view. Otherwise, the fiber optic threads look like a chaotic glowing labyrinth. The sculptures are extremely popular all over the world and are considered an example of an innovative approach to creating design compositions.
Art installation Fish Bellies: exclusive plexiglass lamps
American designers Joe O'Connell and Blessing Hancock created an extraordinary lighting composition, each element of which has a ring shape and consists of several layers of matte acrylic. Multi-colored acrylic elements look like glowing fish. The structure frame is made of steel, LED lamps are used for lighting. Lighting modes can be changed using the touch control system. To place their masterpiece, the authors of the project chose the park of the University of San Marcos, Texas, USA.
According to the designers, the plexiglass lamps contain symbolic meaning: The installation demonstrates the similarity of the richness of biological processes occurring in the nearby San Marcos River and the diversity of the student community. Students enjoy spending time near the Fish Bellies, climbing to the upper levels of the structure, relaxing inside the rings, and perhaps reflecting on the unity of humanity with nature. Being in a kind of niche, the student maintains his individual space without moving away from society - this is how Joe OConnell and Blessing Hancock see the installation. Today, the composition is not only a symbol of the college town in San Marcos, but a world-famous sculpture.
A labyrinth of rainbow plexiglass lamps in China
In the city of Hainan (China), a unique LED installation with plexiglass lamps “YǓZHÒU”. The project was implemented for the exhibition “Luneng Sanya Bay Light and Art Festival”. The 2.5-meter-high structure looks like a labyrinth, consisting of acrylic panels covered with self-adhesive film of various colors. Due to the presence of this film, a bright rainbow glow appears. The colors change as participants move through the maze.
The panels are also decorated with milled patterns in the form of circles. LED radiation illuminates these elements. Numerous shining circles have a visual resemblance to soap bubbles. Ribbon light sources are located at the base of plexiglass lamps. Acrylic panels located around the perimeter of the installation are covered with a mirror reflective film, creating the effect of infinite space.
Mirror surfaces, rainbow colors, light from plexiglass lamps with changing shades - all this forms an amazing, mesmerizing picture and makes the installation truly unique.
Exclusive lamps made of plexiglass to order
In addition to the world-famous designer light installations presented above, there is huge amount other modifications of lamps that cause delight and deserve your attention. Let’s take a closer look at the review of creative plexiglass lamps. Our company is ready to bring any of these ideas to life.
Wave-shaped lamps made of molded plexiglass
The visual impression is created that the lamps are made of a thin luminous canvas fluttering in the wind. But this is not frozen fabric, but thin plexiglass processed by thermal molding. For the manufacture of asymmetrical lamps, manual thermoforming is used: the workpiece is heated in an oven, becomes plastic - in this state it can be given any shape. Working with thin plexiglass is not easy; one wrong move can lead to defects, but our specialists have extensive experience in performing such operations. Thanks to the professionalism of our company’s craftsmen, we can produce wave-shaped lamps with unique, complex shapes.
Block lamps
Such lamps are dominated by strict lines and shapes. The main structural elements are rectangular blocks made of transparent or colored plexiglass. There are many design options: the blocks can be single or combined with each other into one design composition. From rectangular blocks you can make a night light, table lamp, floor lamp, sconce or chandelier. A pattern or texture can be engraved on the surface of the plexiglass - such decor shines softly in the rays of LED lighting.
Sphere and hemisphere lamps
Using plexiglass blowing technology, we can produce spherical and hemispherical lamps of any color and size. We blow not only regular shapes, but also hemispheres in the form of flat lenses, egg-shaped structures, hemispheres with an oval or rectangular base, etc. By gluing two halves, we produce spherical lamps of various types.
Exclusive lamps of original shapes
Plexiglas lamps can have the most unexpected shapes. Our capabilities allow us to implement bold design solutions. In our work we use modern technologies processing of plexiglass on CNC machines - milling, engraving, chemical gluing, thermoforming in an oven on dies, vacuum forming, blowing, bending, polishing.
We work with both transparent and colored plexiglass from leading European manufacturers. Therefore, if you are looking for a responsible contractor for the manufacture of a lamp unusual shape, contact us!
The AkrilChic company produces original custom-made plexiglass lamps of any complexity. Our talented designers generate amazing ideas, the implementation of which is carried out in our own manufacturing plant companies. To become a co-author and participant in the exciting process of giving birth to an acrylic masterpiece, just call us. We will make your dream come true!
Date of creation: 31 JAN 2016 Author "Akrilshik"Implemented works
Transparent chandeliers for exhibition
Transparent chandeliers for the exhibition “Smells. The invisible beauty of St. Petersburg"
