ObOrO

This is a lighting installation that generates unstable, accidental fluctuations. Illuminated globes float in space without any support from strings or wires, controlled only by the air vented from blowers. The globes of light drift around subject only to this imperfect control, constantly rotating and vibrating like living organisms, charmingly precarious and fragile. The apparatus that keeps each globe afloat consists of LED lighting, an air blower, and a stepping motor whose rotation can be precisely controlled. The LEDs illuminate the floating globe, the blower controls its height, and the stepping motor determines the angle of air flow.

A group of luminous globes floats in space, shimmering within an invisible corral. When the globes attempt to escape from their air tubes, they are drawn back to the center, hemmed in by a wall created by air pressure distribution. The flotation principle applied here is the well-known Coanda effect, but it is the interweaving of contemporary technologies represented by the lightweight luminous globes and the devices controlling their collective motion that makes this artistry possible. The work possesses a mystical quality found in physical objects with mass, as well as a thrilling uncertainty, i.e. instability, not found in performances that repeat the same way each time. Extra points for the artist’s achievement of this effect without resorting to an overly “macho” installation. (HIGASHIIZUMI Ichiro)