The above video is of the installation Beautiful Light from DA Therrien – the installation is over, but it was in Scottsdale, AZ on the 16th and 17th of January. This is a huge installation – 500 kW – and according to the Beautiful Light website, Beautiful Light “explored the purity of white light, the mystery of language, the precision of digital codes and the magic of 4 letters – A, C, G, T – representing the DNA code, and consequently, all known life.”
This thing was 80 feet wide – white light – high voltage. A wonderful statement in the dark desert – I would have loved to see this from far away, several miles in the desert – I imagine the ambient light illuminating the desert night from this piece was stunning.
From the DA Therrien website about Beautiful Light:
Installations in the BEAUTIFUL LIGHT series are derived from ideas that I have been fascinated with since childhood, most specifically, the phenomema of light and electricity and the role of light in our belief systems, language, biology, natural world and cosmology – light as illumination, energy, information – and as a metaphor for good and evil. It is also one of our earliest technologies – fire to drive out the night.
The term “Beautiful Light” is double edged, describing both the observable physical nature of pure light and representations in various belief systems and cultures – Egyptian, Greek, Judaism, and later, Christianity. In Egyptian mythology, the god Taht (Apollo in Greek) was represented as a “beautiful light” and this light represented knowledge itself. In the Bible, angels are described as beings of light – messengers of light.
In addition to my interest in light and electricity, I have a fascination with language and the codes that represent it, both analog and digital. The 4 LETTER WORD MACHINE, the first installation in the BEAUTIFUL LIGHT series, explores the purity of white light, the mystery of language, the precision of digital codes and the magic of 4 letters – A, C, G, T – representing the DNA code, and consequently, all known life.
This thing is awesome. My friend Erica sent me the link. Thanks, Erica!
