What we are up to

Light 'em up (part three)

24/02/09
by Nick Holloway

I saw this art installation, entitled Chorus, in Leeds on Friday. It's quite different to the projects I mentioned before (here and here, if you've yet to read all about 'em). But in terms of what can be done with light and movement in art, it's equally mesmerising. Here's a vid:

The video can't quite convey it, but there are moments when the lights, flickering as if sending out morse code and synced to music by Mira Calix, seem very eerie and alien. You know that bit in Close Encounters when the baby ships come swirling in from outer space, before the huge mothership bobs and farts it's way onto the L.Z.? Like that, almost.

The project is the brainchild of United Visual Artists, a group whose work you may have seen at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 2006 (Volume, video here), or in the video for Battles' 2007 single, Tonto (link). You can learn more about the group on their website, or see Chorus free of charge at The Grand, New Briggate, Leeds until Mar 1.

Picture/video: UVA