SARI PALOSAARI
In light of current events
2019
Sand blasted glass channels, led lights, ambient light and color sensors, data control units, translucent foil on facade glasses
Upsala Akademiska Sjukhuset, Sweden
In co-operation with
Building architect White Arkitekter AB
Electric design Gregoire Rousseau
Programming Eetu Huhtala
Commissioner Eva Rosengren / Region Uppsala
Invitational competition curator Lotta Mossum, competition winner 2014.
The work forms a space between two light emitting walls, one with the outside light and the other with the translation of it. It is also a twisted continuum for the materialities of the architecture and its thoughts on transparency.
The installation includes color and ambient light sensors that collect data on the external light conditions surrounding the building. The constant data flow is then transferred to the light-emitting curved glass channel wall. The enveloping double-facade glasses are covered with a translucent foil that obscures the view, allowing only the filtered light to pass through. The landscape is eliminated from view, and the blurred vision with an exact record of the outside light tones is re-materialized on the illuminated channel wall through direct contact with tactile sensors on the building's skin. The emphasis in the room is thus shifted to sensing and physical experience, prioritizing them over pure vision.
The work suggests constant attuning with temporalities that exceed the human scales.
Poetically the piece offers a hopeful thought: in light of current events the things are a certain way, but in an instant, they can change.
The glass volume with its room-in-a-room structure is located above the entrance of the hospital building and serves as a landmark by the historical street Dag Hammarskjölds väg.
