Parabolic Lightcloud

In their installation Parabolic Lightcloud, Adela Lines and Simone Chua (Amigo & Amigo) use more than 1,000 lights to make something invisible visible: our human emotions.

With different colour combinations, patterns and transitions they show us intense emotions such as love or happiness, but also calmness or sadness. But don’t be fooled, this effect can work just as well the other way around! A digitally-controlled medium, like this light installation, can have a powerful influence on our mood and our actions without us realising it. 

The artists based the special shape of Parabolic Lightcloud, the ‘parabola’ (a U-shaped line) on the famous mathematical figure, the Fibonacci spiral. You can, using your imagination, divide this spiral into blocks that become smaller and smaller, each block the same size as the two smaller blocks next to it. Since the spiral is so common in nature – look at the shape of a snail’s shell, or the pattern of seeds in a sunflower, for example – it’s very familiar to us and we often intuitively find objects with similar proportions to be beautiful. 

In their homeland Australia, Amigo & Amigo trace this Fibonacci spiral that forms the basis for Parabolic Lightcloud to the underwater world, in the colourful anemones and corals, for example. The duo often bases their work, and more specifically their light sculptures, on forms found in (human) nature. Recent artworks include two fighting roosters made of light, and an interactive installation inspired by nerve cells and the human brain.

About the artist

Directed by Simone Chua, Amigo & Amigo (est. 2012) is a Sydney-based artist studio with a background in sculpture and industrial design. It is passionate about lighting and experimental forms. The studio’s body of work showcases its ability to use light and materials to transform spaces and engage the public. Its projects are predominantly large-scale and technically complex, playful in nature and designed to transform environments into memorable experiences and invite audiences to interact with the work. The amigos’ installation work has been featured internationally throughout Asia, Europe, the Middle East and South America.

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Copyright

© Bart Heemskerk
© Janus van den Eijnden
© Nikos Karanikolas, SNFCC