Client: San Francisco Exploratorium
Location: San Francisco, CA, United States
Completion date: 2022
Project Team
design, assembly and production
Sally Weber
Resonance Studio
engineering, electronics, programing, production
Craig Newswanger
Resonance Studio
Overview
ENTANGLED ATTRACTION is composed of 300 randomly rotating LED lights suspended overhead accompanied by Jonathan Crawford’s original, non-repeating Soundscape. From a distance, the installation suggests fireflies. But viewed from below, the swirling trails of light and colors hover in the air evocative of rotating galaxies. Each unit of three lights is driven independently generating the chaotic pattern variations. We see a solidity to the spiraling trails through ‘persistence of vision’, our natural capacity to integrate motion into a continuous visual image. However, the camera cannot capture all the subtle optical phenomena of the streams of color in space.
Invisible forces of gravity, air currents, and the close proximity of the lights exert turbulence and create a field of entanglement between them. Likewise, forces interconnect us through our own attractions and entanglements. ENTANGLED ATTRACTION is a reprieve for some, a meditation for others, a wonder for the curious, and perhaps for a few, a mysterious realm of light in motion stretching out beyond oneself. ENTANGLED ATTRACTION was commissioned and exhibited at the San Francisco Exploratorium from Nov. 2022-April 2023.
Goals
We create intimate experiences through natural and optical phenomena of light. Challenging viewers' perception of light transforms their sense of place and time. ENTANGLED ATTRACTION offers visitors an experiential way to see light dimensionally, hovering in space. We saw a sense of wonder as people discussed what they saw and how it might work. For others, the expressions of awe were wordless. That experience compresses time into the present and allows the mind to expand far beyond the bounds of the room itself.
Process
Craig Newswanger and I collaborate throughout our work process. Our projects are built to professional standards mainly in our studio in Oakland, CA. My background in the arts and Craig's experience in engineering, electronics and production enable us to develop our work collaboratively from concept through installation.
Additional Information
ENTANGLED ATTRACTION will be touring in the fall of 2024. More information soon.