EXHIBITION
Visual deception: Lightscapes at Venice Biennale 2016
Would you ever believe that somebody could drill a hole in the centuries-old roof of Venice Biennale’s Arsenale in order to host a temporary installation? No way! And yet the stunning Lightscapes set up and its solar rays seeping through the ceiling are somehow there and sending a very strong message.
This powerful work with a fantastic taste states a very simple idea: design strategies must pursue efficiency by channeling the forces of nature instead of opposing them. And according to Transsolar and Anja Thierfelder who curated Lightscapes, local knowledge and awareness of new technologies can and will make this common sense possible.
Consequently, Lightscapes is a technical art applied to the field of architecture that achieves a realistic effect of crepuscular rays. Through the manipulation of the room’s thermodynamic conditions and by playing with its temperature, humidity and air movement, it became possible to arrange such an intriguing and scenographic lighting trick. In a sense, Lightscapes is only an optic illusion. But an illusion that draws our attention to a very concrete issue.
