Client: Black Rock City LLC (Burning Man)
Location: Black Rock City, Nevada, U.S.A.
Dates: 25th August – 3rd September 2013
Description: The Liquid Crystal concept is a wall of water prisms that creates a time based experience by dispersing the light of the sun as it travels through the sky into rainbow patterns that move across the desert floor from sunrise to sunset.
During the night a simple lighting rig is used to project moving beams of light onto the wall to produce specific refraction patterns across the Playa. Movement sensors can be used to create a responsive crystal wall that lights up and projects rainbows based on the movement of people around it.
This installation was inspired by the phenomenon of the 'Ice Halo' - when tiny crystals of ice in the sky create huge halos of light and rainbows. The original starting point had been the study of snowflakes and their formation and extreme diversity. This led to a closer study of prism shaped crystals and the refraction of light.
The intention of the Crystal Wall is to bring the halos and rainbows 'from the stars down to the sand'. Ice halos and rainbows are elusive and out of reach; this installation is designed to make them accessible, to place the participant within the rainbow.
