Stunning Light Show Puts You Inside An Electrical Storm

United Visual Artists have been creating their monumental light sculptures and installations for 10 years, producing such epic work as Origin, a giant LED sculpture, as well as swinging light pendulums to augment our lives and the world around us.As part of the celebration of their tenth anniversary they created an intervention, in collaboration with My Beautiful City, for Sou Fujimoto's cloud-like installation (below) for the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 as part of the annual summer party that takes place there.

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013. Designed by Sou Fujimoto. © Sou Fujimoto Architects. Image © 2013 Iwan Baan

Sou Fujimoto's installation is an intricate, lattice structure, like a giant climbing frame constructed from 20mm steel poles which takes up 350 square-metres of the Serpentine Gallery's lawn. It's delicate appearance makes it almost transparent, like your eyes are playing tricks on you, which changes from different perspectives. UVA wanted to "make the architecture 'breathe'" so they transformed it using flashing lights to create an electrical light storm—illuminating the piece, just like a lightning storm illuminates the night sky, and revealing the structure's complexity.

UVA's intervention

As well as the geometric aspect of the intervention, it also references J.M.W. Turner’s paintings, as the group explain: "One reference could be J.M.W. Turner’s paintings, which rather than being representative evoke the sensation of an overwhelming natural phenomenon. UVA’s transformation aims to capture the essence of being inside an electrical storm, exploring the similarities between what is digital, electronic, and the awe-inspiring natural world."

It's quite a show. Check out the dazzling performance in the video above and also in crazy GIF form below.

And watch the video below which shows Origin as featured at the 2011 Creators Project 2011 New York event…

@stewart23rd