LUMEN

LUMEN is an interactive, responsive installation in which the viewer influences the intensity and color of the light. This allows one to experience the impact of (the type of) light on the environment and on the viewer’s own emotions. The experience is unique for each person, as they themselves control the work, and because everyone has their own perception of light. The viewer becomes, in a sense, a co-creator of the work. 

LUMEN consists of a white and a black part. In both spaces, blocks with slits emit light from the inside out. In the black room, the light has a constant yellow-white color. Here, the viewer controls the intensity of the light by moving closer to or further away from the block. In the white room, the viewer changes the color of the light from blue to red. The soundscape is also responsive: standing closer results in a more powerful sound, while stepping back softens it.

Light is fluid, intangible, and yet it is the most essential building block of the work. It is both part of the work—the material from which it is composed—and the viewer’s experience of it.

As in all my work, time also plays a role here. Whereas in AEON the passage of time is pre-programmed and shows that time is not linear but cyclical, LUMEN emphasizes the present moment. Its duration is not predetermined but arises through the interaction with the viewer.

This makes the work highly dynamic and active. It does not impose structure on time, but rather activates it. It begins anew each time someone engages with it.

My work deals with the perception of light in time. Hence the title LUMEN, the word for light or beam of light. In scientific terms, it is the total amount of visible light emitted by a source per unit of time.