Daan Roosegaarde: "People can do what they want with my Crystal installation" from Dezeen on Vimeo.
Dan Roosegaarde's fabulous Eindhoven installation, Crystal, truly exemplifies the connection between art, artist, and the community. Crystal consists of thousands of LED crystals. These wireless, battery-free tokens are illuminated by the weak magnetic field that runs through their display platform. Visitors are free to play with the crystals as they please - they can arrange them, stack them, spell out messages, even steal them.
This exhibit truly embraces art as a temporal creation. Roosegaarde accepts that though these "light-up Legos" are an asset to the community, they are also prone to be stolen at any time. While he recognizes this heartbreak, he has developed a way to cope. By releasing this installation to the public, it is something that simply began as his and will live as theirs. As he terms it, it is ecological - it will take on a life of its own within the community at Eindhoven.
Crystal has been previously exhibited in Amsterdam, Paris, and Moscow. The installation was purchased by the city of Eindhoven in 2012 and will be on permanent display for the next 10 to 15 years. Roosegaarde has released the design schematic for his LED crystals to the public and to several manufactures in the area, allowing others to create their own unique crystal designs. This ensures that the project will be an organic entity that can grow with the city, replacing the stolen crystals and replacing them with ones designed by the people who use it most. It will continue to live beyond Roosegaarde's original design, a concept that he believes is truly beautiful.
If you happen to be in The Netherlands, visit Crystal at Kastanjelaan 500 in Eindhoven.
No comments:
Post a Comment