Artwork
Brasilia em Luz
Lucy + Jorge Orta, 2009
- Ref: 00020
- Materials: Proposal for light based work on three Oscar Niemeyer buildings in the city of Brasilia (museum parliament and cathedral) to celebrate the Year of France in Brazil
- Catalogued: Lucy + Jorge Orta. Light Works, Black Dog Publishing, 2010, ISBN 978-1-907317-04-0
- Courtesy: Year of France in Brazil
- Concept: In this ephemeral work Brasilia em Luz highlights a fundamental and universal problem of the contemporary world: the fragility of the ecological balance, and at the same time interrogates the relationship between man and nature. The modern city of Brasilia, designed by Lucio Costa with the famous architectures of Oscar Niemeyer, was created in sparsely populated land located in a region of the neo-tropical savannah Amazon, rich in biodiversity. Hence it is the ideal setting for this reflection, especially as this biome is now one of the most threatened in South America.
As mankind is being distanced from nature as a result of the intensification of work patterns, compressing of time, information overkill and all kinds of pollution and stress. Dazzled by the accelerated technological achievements, we forget the natural cycles and the aggression we are inflicting on our environment - we are losing basic core values. Through the series Light Works, artists Lucy and Jorge Orta have been covering our cities in unusual light paintings, and these breathtaking artworks invite us to reflect on our own lives and to raise awareness about the place of nature within human life.
An ecological society is a society that finds the balance between the absolute materialistic and one that would fall into a blissful spirituality. Nicolas Hulot
The sequences of images that form the light mantels are figurative, abstract and symbolic created using a contemporary digital language of signs, ideograms, silhouettes, organic forms such as beetles, butterflies or flowers - referring to the World Year of Biodiversity and the relationship between man and nature.
Constellations and insect species: evoke the diversity our global ecosphere. The minute entomologic world, which is invisible to the eyes not accustomed to looking in depth versus the immensity of the millions of stars and galaxies. These natural elements disappear without us even noticing and millions are still to be discovered.
Nexus and heart: the atomic mesh and connective structures are the metaphor of our networked world and symbol of social ties in our communities. The abstract images of the human heart act as a symbol of the gift, and recognition of the other.
Pictograms and graphic symbols: signs that tend to create a bridge or dialogue between cultures - a communal alphabet for universal communication, which reconciles man with man and man with nature.
