Visitors walk along an arc-shaped corridor until a light becomes visible at the end of the narrow space. Gradually changing over time, that light colors the room in various shades, while looped video footage capturing mountains and the sky between sunrise and sunset is played back on a display installed at the end of the corridor. When the sky is bright, LEDs in the back light up the space, creating an illumination that matches the color of the sky in the video. Likewise, when the sky gradually turns red as the sun goes down, the color gradients of the illumination change accordingly. A controller that can regulate LEDs in 4,096 steps was specially developed for this work in order to attune the lighting to the slowly transforming color of the sky.

“Gradations” is an environmental installation that reproduces through lights the colors in footage capturing the changing appearances of the sky, mountains and clouds, and thereby creates an ambiguous kind of sensation comparable to that of peripheral vision (a part of vision outside the center of gaze) or the feeling of sunbathing. Surrounded by music and shades of light and shadow that change with the transforming appearance of the scenery, the visitor is inspired to reflect on the beauty that we normally aren’t aware of as we watch the sky change its colors day by day.

The work was conceived as a sequel to “Beyond the light and the end of moonlight,” which was made back in 2007.

Music: MIYAUCHI Yasuno
Space Design Cooperation: HIROSE Gai
Technical cooperation: MATHRAX LLC.
Cooperation: Rokko Meets Art