PROJECT UPDATE - Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) Lighting Installation
“Someone” from “Somewhere” – The Shadows
“You looked like someone from somewhere”. This may sound familiar to many. The question of “someone” and “somewhere” brings me thinking of the children of diasporas and then mix-raced. As far as I remember, since I was a child I was often mistaken as “someone” from “somewhere”. Maybe we had heard about how brave our ancestors were, the shadows of the past, the wild beasts, the jungle, the mountains, the plains, the waves, and the wars, sometimes even the supernatural. It could sound like another realm that has been conquered in the past, yet it is difficult to imagine what had happened in the real life. We looked at the advanced AI Face-Race analysis, we would be wondering why the people of same resemblance but are living a different lifestyle in another part of the world. It is even jaw-dropping to realise that our natural six senses and sense of belonging never lie to us. We are indeed the shadow (products/result) of the past. We are in shadow when we do not have evidence of the past.
“The Gems that cannot be exchanged - The discovery of the light (unimaginable potential) within us, which our ancestors already knew” – The Lights
Until light shines unto what had been buried beneath the foundation of the rapid progressing era, the artifacts, the evidence of the heritage, we finally make our hypothesis evidence-based. We know that we are rooted. Finally light reveals to us, penetrates the surface and reveals the spirit and the strength that later became the inception and cornerstone of civilisation. The light proves to us that what we heard from our parents and grandparents is the truth. Also, we know that we can pass the heritage to the next generation just like how our past generation did.
The Light Installation
To embrace the darkness (past) and the light (future), the designer has applied BPM Series (120/277V • LED), LUMELEX® 2030 Series (120V/277V • XICATO • 19MM), LUMELEX® 2060 Series (120/277V • XICATO 19MM) lighting system from LSI (USA) in this project. The modern, sleek and minimalist outer shell of the fixtures creates extremely high colour consistency and quality light to accentuate the essence of displayed artifacts through the shadows created. The designer aspired to create an atmosphere that inspires the juxtaposition of the past and the future at the same time and in the same space … “Overlapping and intertwining”. The combinations different types of high-performance lighting systems create a variation of shadows, the heavy shadows against light shadows. To create the uncanny silence of dark spaces of which Westerners refer as “mysterious Orient”. Even we as adults would feel an inexpressible chill as we peered into the depths of an alcove to which the sunlight had never penetrated. The moment one stands in front of the Exhibits, with the experience of Interlacing time and space, one can feel the empathy with what had happened in the past.
Reflection by Christina Yong (Published 2022)
Lighting Product: LSI
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