We often tell you about the benefits of LED lighting, that it will cut your energy bills, that it is good for the environment as well as being versatile. One of the facets of LED lighting is that, in addition to being practical, it can also be a thing of great beauty and can emphasize the architectural elegance of a monument or add magic to pretty much anything with their soft, clean glow.
One such example was an artistic installation recently created for the FESTA 2014 festival and the Whau Arts festival, which we had the privilege to be able to contribute to.
It all started when we received a call from a wholesaler interested in purchasing LED lights for “a project”. Nothing out of the ordinary so far, until the wholesaler mentioned that it was for architecture students and the project was an installation inspired by the terrible 2010 earthquake in Christchurch.
The destruction caused throughout the city at the time isn’t something that any of us is going to forget any time soon, and we decided to donate lights to support their project and the community. The equipment donated included LED strip lighting, flood lighting and power supplies which they put to good use, as you can judge from the pictures below.
It took months to rebuild Christchurch after it was devastated by the earthquake in 2010, and during this time, its streets were dotted with road cones. Although they were to keep people safe and away from unstable grounds and dangerous areas, their omnipresence led people to associate them with the hardship and heartache they experienced then, and the humble cone took on negative connotations that it never dreamt of attracting.
The idea behind Antigravity, as the installation was named, was to help people move past this by changing that association. When road cones used to keep people at bay, this project used them to draw people in. As you can see from the pictures, what one can do with cones when one is creative is simply amazing! – But don’t go trying it yourself next time you drive past a construction site or builders may be less appreciative of your artistic endeavours!
These student architects hoped to invigorate the community and create an installation that stood out, and they indeed received a very positive response over Labour Weekend. They reported that Antigravity had been the most photographed and filmed project of the festival and was featured in two documentaries. Their team also made it into the Saturday and Sunday Press, and Antigravity won third place overall.
We were very glad to have been part of this heart-warming experience, even in a modest way, and we would like to congratulate those talented architects on their well-deserved success.
So, if you thought that LED lighting was boring, we hope that we convinced you that there is more to it than you ever imagined. Who knows what you will achieve with a few strips?