Finalist – Artemide Storefront Competition.
Artemide is well known for its exceptional luminaires, and it is the consideration of “lightness” beyond mere candle output what makes them great. We propose to showcase this intimate relationship with light shared by all Artemide fixtures by showing … none of them. Instead we will offer the possibility of witnessing lightness beyond mere “illumination”. Weight, air, passage of time, quality of changing light – all of these considerations will come into play here.
Let’s fill the storefront with a multitude of white helium balloons. They will be lit from below by a simple linear fluorescent light source and baffled to prevent being seen from the outside. The balloons will float to the top and will be lit from below creating a virtual chandelier in each store window. As helium slowly seeps out of the balloons they begin to descend toward the light source, at times becoming secondary point sources of reflected lights, at times coming together as smaller fixtures – and subsequently creating infinite variations of light. This process will take about a week and in the end, the balloons will settle on the light fixtures creating a continuous diffuser for the light that the fixtures emit.
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