Light as a genetic element of the image

AIC 2004 Color and Paints, Interim Meeting of the International Color Association, ProceedingsJacques Herzog and Pierre De Meuron: Goetz Collection, Munich,1992. This is an exhibition gallery. At a first glance it might recallthe structural clarity and functionality of pieces by Mies van derRohe, but a deeper analysis reveals a more complex and uncertaincharacter. Distance between apparent and real is shown also in thebuilding structure. The rhythmical division that the supportingvertical elements produce, call for diagrammatical clarity inrationalism. The upper and lower floor feature light in the way of askylight.Norman Foster & partners: Centre of Industrial Promotion,Duisburg, Germany, 1993. We can watch light andarchitecture joining in a perfect way. This new city councilpromotion central office intends to be emblematic ofGerman region Ruhr new economical revitalisation. Thisbuilding is sited in microelectronics Park, also by Foster,which is composed by a group of buildings set downtown.The Promotion Centre is glass coated over the concretestructure. This makes light to reflect outside as a screen. Ifwatched at night, with its blinds open, this building glassoutside wall has a minimalist interpretation. In daylight, theshinning closed blinds offer an appearance of a reflectingand opaque frontage. Foster’s modernism exemplifies theuse of light as the main character in architectural design.Friedrich Förster and Sabine Weissinger: The Magic House. These artists have developed atechnique in which big slide images are projected over huge surfaces. They have beendeveloping this technique since the eighties and have come up with a computer based controlsystem. This way images can be manipulated to fit the building structure and dimensions. Oneof the main characteristics of the Magic House project is that integration between buildingand aesthetic design projection is perfect. Building façade turns constantly into differentconceptions according with the topic related, changing from dynamic moving images withsound to those slow track changing static ones. “Our main target is not just to illuminatebuildings, but to enhance its architectonic, historical and aesthetical values, as well as thesame place where they are set”, says Förster. Building artistic lightening and projecting is ayoung gender within the art practices. Förster and Weissinger illuminated the inner spaces inCologne St. Peter’s gothic cathedral, accepting the challenge of lightening the second biggestgothic cathedral in the world. After the sunrise, the Magic House spectacle started when 6huge projectors were switched on inside the cathedral. Projected light over walls, vaults, highaltar and columns would show images of architectural composition taken from the samebuilding: tessellated pavement, tracery and stained-glass windows... Images changed speedfrom a slow star rain to a quick flow of images turning colours and shapes. The spectatorperceives a sudden sensation of sliding walls, rotating columns and that the whole churchstarts to move. Movements are soft, though, and invite the audience to enjoy the show andthink over life, colour, movement... “We search for a 3D sensation with our projections sothat we can provide the inner spaces with life”, says Förster.268