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    Dazzling light art reflects Philips history

    Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Photo Credit: Signify

    Light art sculpture recalls history and looks to the future

     

    In celebration of its 130-year anniversary on May 15th, 2023, the company Philips - a Dutch light source manufacturer - donated a work of art to the city of Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The statue is a bust of the company’s founder Gerard Philips and is called “Gate to the future”. The art piece was created by the artist Andreas Hetfeld.

     

    The monument is temporarily located in Gloeilampplantsoen and will be moved to Victoria Park, a lush two-hectare (5 acre) nature reserve, as part of a city beautification initiative to rejuvenate this new hotspot in the center of the City of Eindhoven. 

     

    The enormous statue weighs about 23.000 kg (5,070 lb), is 8 x 7 m (26.2 x 22.9 ft) and built with 5,000 pieces of weather steel in 500 layers and over 100,000 welds. With this walk-through sculpture, light plays a vital role illuminating both inside and out. Lighting Designer Dick Rutten from Signify – originally Philips Lighting – created the lighting design while CSI Livingprojects was responsible for technical engineering. 

     

    Mr. Rutten’s goal for the lighting design was to add a layer of light to extend and transform the sculpture’s presence during the evening. The dynamic lighting design includes IntelliHue luminaires for their strong white light quality to show the “human” look of the statue, colorful effects for the clothing elements, and more colorful effects and dynamics for a “wow-factor” during the short light shows. Color Kinetics Blast luminaires were chosen as powerful spotlights, located on 12m (40 ft) poles, and Graze Compact 60° x 60° luminaires inside the sculpture create a remarkable moiré pattern with light. Finally, Vaya Free Form white luminaires were used as wayfinding through the sculpture.

     

    At fixed times, visitors can enjoy a short, high impact light show with color sweep and sparkle effects that change each season. The statue awakes with dynamic light and then dozes back into nuanced white light effects with subtle light movements or goes dark for contrast. In summer, the light show envelops the statue in a warm white and vibrant shades of purple and orange. In winter, the statue sparkles in blue and white light. In autumn, the light creates a gorgeous gold effect and in spring, the statue shines in Signify green and blue.

    Project credits

    Artist:

    Andreas Hetfeld

     

    Lighting Designer:

    Dick Rutten

     

    Technical Engineering:

    Livingprojects 

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