{"id":118400,"date":"2017-11-20T06:15:38","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T05:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/e52.nl\/?p=118400"},"modified":"2017-11-20T06:15:38","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T05:15:38","slug":"glow-2017-looking-back-forward-lux-lab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/glow-2017-looking-back-forward-lux-lab\/","title":{"rendered":"GLOW 2017: Looking back and forward with The Lux Lab"},"content":{"rendered":"

GLOW 2017 featured two art light projects created by Ellen de Vries, the head of The Lux Lab<\/span><\/a> company \u2013 one of the projects was \u201cShine like the Whole Universe is Yours\u201d installed on Fatih Mosque and another one was sound-sensitive LED canopy \u201cDon’t break the sound barrier\u201d in Nieuwe Emmasingel.\u00a0 <\/span>E52 meets Ellen de Vries to talk about her experience gained during the short but intense period of Eindhoven light festival.<\/span><\/p>\n

More on GLOW here<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

More on Lux Lab and Ellen de Vries here<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n


\n

Ellen de Vries<\/i><\/center><\/p>\n

Ellen says that she learned important things from her Fatih Mosque project. She believes that this project made her more open to people. \u201cI was surprised how open to me and how cooperative the people from the Mosque foundation were. It\u2019s the first project in my life in which somebody supported me in that way\u201d, Ellen tells us. \u201cI really learned something from this community \u2013 how to be true to your beliefs but at the same time to be open, friendly and welcoming to people of other beliefs and views.\u201d Ellen says: \u201cI think Western people are way too uptight and way too judgmental about people who are different from them. Sometimes we are even hostile to certain groups like Muslims.\u201d So she asks: \u201cWhy being that judgmental, why treat each other that hostile? We are all human beings.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ellen wanted to express the openness to people who are different from us, in her light art design. She conveyed it with the soft light used inside of the Mosque and with the transparency of the window glass, so the interior of the Mosque was visible. Originally some of the windows had been opaque but thanks to the support that the Fatih Mosque foundation gave to Ellen de Vries\u2019 project in every detail, the opaque windows were replaced with transparent ones. Ellen de Vries also wanted to show people the beauty of architectural elements of the mosque accentuating them with the light. The light design of the Mosque made it look more open, accessible and inviting. \u201cOn some evenings the people were actually invited to see the cables and equipment and the prayer room,\u201d says Ellen. \u201cAnd I observe that visitors meet Muslim people there in the friendly atmosphere and see how open and welcoming they are. I am happy that I played a role in this process of connection.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShine like the whole universe is yours\u201d is the title of Fatih Mosque light art project. This is a quote from an ancient Persian poet Rumi and, as Ellen remarks, it may seem as if it is about a great Ego, but in fact it is about a huge responsibility \u2013 do what you find important, don\u2019t be afraid to be special but be responsible and be considerate of other beings in the universe. And Ellen certainly was true to this interpretation of the quote working on the project. As she tells us, she chose to face the technical challenge and program the luminars movement trajectory in a much more time and efforts consuming way than usually because she did not want to disturb people who live in the buildings next to and behind the mosque with the light. <\/span><\/p>\n

Ellen is also telling us about the experience she gained from work with the technical aspect of Fatih Mosque project. \u201cI am happy with the lighting design that I did, it\u2019s very convincing. It was my goal to integrate diverse techniques into this design without using the standard event effects which are in the lighting computer \u2013 despite the fact that it was time-consuming. I worked with some projection from the inside projecting on the curtains, we used LED dots and some video over these LEDs, we used refraction techniques to create the wavy effects – I applied nearly all techniques. I wanted to integrate lasers but I couldn\u2019t do it this time. I learned that integrating diverse techniques in one short show is terribly hard, it\u2019s close to impossible.\u201d But Ellen de Vries is not looking for easy ways in her work: \u201cI always work on the innovative side of the technique. It would have been easier to repeat myself but I prefer to reach the limits of the techniques every time.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n