Nikon D7000 w 16-85mm, 13sec at f13, ISO200. © Andy Marfia 2012 All Rights Reserved.
Have you ever thought to yourself, you know, I'm a big fan of Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate sculpture (aka: the bean), but that could really be weirder, more trippy, and even more surreal? Well, I hope you stopped by the Luminous Field installation that ended on Monday by Chicago artists, Luftwerk, because your dreams were likely answered. If not, check out this short video that explained the project:
The photographs in this post were all taken on a brisk Sunday evening. I was expecting crowds, but it was even busier than usual, with hundreds of people milling about, taking photos, or chasing after their kids. I intentionally brought only a mini-tripod with me. This was partially a choice of convenience-- I had something else to photograph beforehand and didn't feel like carrying a lot of gear-- and partially because I expected everyone would be shooting from tripods. I figured I'd try something different.
Each photo was taken at ground level, with exposures between 1.3 and 13 seconds. I tried to focus on the interaction between lights, bean, and people. The first photo, and the next three, show the west (city facing) side of the installation. This was the smaller of the two installations but also had a smaller crowd to deal with:
Nikon D7000 w 16-85mm, 2sec at f7.1, ISO200. © Andy Marfia 2012 All Rights Reserved.
Nikon D7000 w 16-85mm, 1.3sec at f7.1, ISO200. © Andy Marfia 2012 All Rights Reserved.
Nikon D7000 w 16-85mm, 13sec at f13, ISO200. © Andy Marfia 2012 All Rights Reserved.
This last photo is from the east facing side:
Nikon D7000 w 16-85mm, 6sec at f8, ISO200. © Andy Marfia 2012 All Rights Reserved.
Overall, I thought this installation was impressive, though I wasn't quite blown away by it. As I stated in the beginning, it really pushed the bean's surreal factor, but the bean to me is already plenty surreal on its own. Also, I suspect I would have enjoyed it more on a less crowded, and perhaps warmer, evening. I realize having this in the summer wouldn't solve the crowd problem, but why not in the spring or fall?
3 comments:
What I liked most about the installation was how the artists got the projections to line up perfectly with the tiles of the plaza. You don't really show that in your photos, but it was cool. Otherwise I agree with you-- it was interesting, but didn't blow me away.
Forgot to mention that I love the intense blue hour in these photos. The fourth one really pops!
"What I liked most about the installation was how the artists got the projections to line up perfectly with the tiles of the plaza."
I agree, that was nice. I couldn't really capture this from ground level-- too low of an angle and too many people in my way.
"Forgot to mention that I love the intense blue hour in these photos."
Thanks!
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