Light serves art at the Nobel Week Lights

KTH participates in two of the events in the festival programme; The Tale of the Great Computing Machine  an installation in Reaktorshallen at KTH by the artist and researcher Ludvig Elblaus, and a couple of light installations, Within and Against , along Serafimerstranden where six master's students in Architectural Lighting Design participate.

A collaboration between Konstfack and the Curating program at Stockholm University

“The installations are based on ideas and concepts by students from Konstfack in collaboration with the curating program at Stockholm University. Our job is to assist with technical support and implementation”, says Diana Andrea Niño Bogoya, one of the master's students.

A work inspired by Nobel Prize Laureates who have challenged the status quo

During Nobel Week Lights , both international and local artists and designers have the opportunity to create large-scale public light artworks that encourage new insights into the research, lives and discoveries of Nobel laureates. This group's work, Within and Against, draws inspiration from Nobel laureates who have taken a radical step into the unknown and challenged the status quo. Through both existing and new fixtures, the works seek to illuminate structures, old as well as new, and how they interact to create an innovative future.

“Within and Against is imbued with an experimental character, but it is not the light that plays the main role here, instead the light reinforces the artistic idea. It is exciting to work with light to tell a story, but it is difficult to communicate an idea with light alone. So in this case we can say that the light serves the art”, says David Santiago Pulla Alvarado, another of the participating students.

Challenges when the artistic process meets a more linear process

For the master's students, the project has meant a new way of engaging with a project.

“Most often our work is based on a concept or from needs in a project, here the input is instead artistic. Interaction with the artists has also been the most challenging part of the project, since they have a completely different process compared to us. We are used to working according to a standard and a linear way of working.”

Another challenge has been to help the art students limit the project but also the technical settings in the background that need to work.

“But overall, it is a good preparation for professional life for us. It becomes an exercise in serving a purpose even though we were not part of the original idea. You learn to adapt your knowledge,” David Santiago Pulla Alvarado concludes.

Map to all of the light installations

The Nobel Week Lights runs from December 3-11. Experience all the installations during the week by following the map: Map 2022 – Nobel Week Lights

Participants from KTH are Carolina Borgia, David Santiago Pulla Alvarado, Diana Andrea Niño Bogoya, Evdoxia Iro Gkolompia, Ishita Madan and Maria Eleni Zapounidi.

This is the 39^th article in the School of Architecture and the Built Environment's series of articles on selected research, education or collaboration initiatives from each department. You can find the previous articles here:  Archive