If you have a chance to visit the Gasometer Oberhausen exhibition space, take it: you’ll be in for a treat. The light and sound installation ‘320° Licht’ made by Urbanscreen has already been awarded this year’s German lighting design prize in the art category. Der Deutsche Lichtdesign-Preis has been conferred since 2011 and is awarded for urban and architectural light installations of exceptional quality in recognition of the designers’ creative and technical expertise. The award-winning 320° Licht is part of the ‘Appearance of Beauty’ exhibition which is running until 1 November 2015. The powerful impact of the multimedia installation is due to some exceptional planning and design.
Covering a surface area of almost 20,000m², visitors are surrounded by one of the largest indoor projections in the world. Almost the entire inner surface of the former gas holder has been illuminated with carefully-focused interlocking video projections created by the Bremen art collective URBANSCREEN. 21 high-performance projectors are programmed to create one seamless image that transforms the inner surface of the building into one moving wall of light.
The work is an hommage to the breathtaking sense of space and architectural impact the former Oberhausen gas holder imparts to visitors. This led URBANSCREEN to make a conscious decision to keep the projections in the realm of the abstract, focussing on monochrome, high-contrast geometric animations. This creates a sense of depth and realism that tears down the ‘fourth wall’ in front of the viewer. The sense of space within the gas holder is constantly transformed by projections of dots, lines, and surfaces that build a complex imaginary architecture. This architecture is joined by gentle, flowing waves whose movements recall the space’s original function.
Since the installation consists of a series of individual movements it can be dipped in and out of at any time. The loop lasts around 22 minutes. The exhibition is open from Tuesday to Sunday between 10am to 6pm, until 1 November.