Semiconductor, Ron Arad, And More Explore All Things Digital And Crystal At Design Museum London

You probably know Swarovski for their delicate crystal products rather than such heady matters as “the contemplation of the diminishing elements of our physical world.” But the luxury brand is defying stereotypes and raising some interesting questions in a new show called Digital Crystal, a partnership with Design Museum London. Enlisting the talents of several artists, including a couple of our Creators and some other favorites, the project challenges artists to conceive of artworks that “explore the future of memory in the fast developing digital age.”

Basically, the idea is that lots of physical objects that were once a part of our world, inextricably tied to our daily lives and memories, have been replaced by digital versions—books, letters, photographs, records are no longer vital as physical artifacts, and “this exhibition examines the changing nature of our relationship with objects and even with time.” Each of the pieces in “Digital Crystal” addresses this issue in its own unique way. Here’s a rundown of a couple of our favorite projects from some familiar names.

Semiconductor’s The Shaping Grows

Similar to the winners of our San Francisco Hackathon, this piece from Creators Semiconductor features shifting mineral crystal forms controlled by seismic data from around the world.

rAndom International’s Study for Sunlight

We recently told you about rAndom International’s stunning dance-reactive light cube, and their play with light continues with this project. By shining light through crystals and color filters, they simulate the experience of a digital display. This piece is the first step towards a much larger installation that will use sunlight as a light source for motion graphics projections.

Ron Arad’s Lolita

A chandelier combining two thousand crystals and a thousand LEDs, Arad’s Lolita has the ability to display things that you text or tweet at her, so be careful what you tell her. Seriously, she’ll just tell everyone through her LEDs and they’ll all listen because she’s beautiful.

Digital Crystal opened at Design Museum London on September 5th and runs through January 13th, 2013.

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