Atmosphere is a series of ephemeral, sensorial-architectural environments combining RGB LED light, barely perceivable sound, infrared heat, and haze. A series of vertically suspended lightweight panels constructed of focused channels of RGB LED’s at the bottom and top, linked together by thin monofilament, gradually change color and opacity over time, the result of shifting qualities of artificially produced haze in the environment. At the same time, small infrared heaters suspended in the area produce changing climates that are not visible but still present to the bodies of visitors who near the panels. Exploring what architecture critic Mark Wigley calls “an architecture of atmosphere,” a sensuous climate of ephemeral yet tangibly felt effects, Atmosphere proposes an ephemeral, almost volatile non object that emphasizes the temporality and changeability of public encounters with our increasingly technical environments. As such, it suggests an absolute complicity between viewer and environment, probing the ways in which the just perceivable opens up new sensory experiences of the world surrounding and enveloping us.

Location
Art Souterrain, Montreal, Canada
March 2013
Gallerie FOFA, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
January 2011
Material
RGB LEDs (SMD), wood, monofilament, Atomic 3000 DMX controlled strobe lights (x 2), amplifier,
computer, Entec DMX box, infrared heaters, custom developed software
Collaborators
Artistic Direction: Chris Salter
Collaborators: Marije Baalman, Elio Bidinost, Shannon Collis, Fernando Leppe, Harry Smoak, Robert Tomes, Matthieu Tremblay, Tobias Ziegler
Production: LabXmodal
With the financial support of the Fonds de recherche du Québec-Société et culture (FQRSC), Canada.