LIGHTHOUSE | SOUND + LIGHT INSTALLATION

12 SEPTEMBER-23 NOVEMBER 2020 | ROKKO MEETS ART, KOBE, JAPAN

LIGHTHOUSE is a sound + light installation commissioned by and first exhibited at Rokko Meets Art in Kobe, Japan. It is the first of a series of installations that are in development to be exhibited at various decommissioned lighthouses across Japan and throughout the world. Featuring deep sub bass foghorn like tones, the works uses the natural resonances of the site space to send signals echoing within the structure and throughout the surrounding natural landscape. Slowly modulating lights imperceptibly shift and illuminate the spiraling staircase of the interior space and emanate a warm glow from within.

Prior to GPS based navigation, lighthouses served to signal and warn ships of approaching treacherous terrain, shoals and rocky waters. When visibility was compromised due to foggy conditions, sound rather than light penetrated the fog and darkness and guided ships safely to shore. Conceived during the early months of the pandemic in 2020, LIGHTHOUSE addresses a world enveloped in a deep, dark fog; a world lost at sea. LIGHTHOUSE begins with a series of subterranean signals calling out like laments into the night. As if returning from signaling ships at sea, lights begin to illuminate in response to the tones, at first intermittently and then gradually fading into a constant and slowly shifting gradating glow that travels across the spectrum of the crepuscular sky.

霧信号所　ー　それは、かつて船の安全船行を見守った”音の灯台”というべきものでした。作者は下見で体験した六甲山の荒天から、本作品の着想を得ました。六甲山の眺望スポットに立つ塔を霧信号所に見立てて、その内部から光を放ち、低音の波の様な霧笛を響かせます。目を閉じると、その音が神戸の港に届き、船の汽笛と呼応するイメージが浮かんできます。現在、世界は困難な状況にあり、人々は霧の中で迷い、救いを求めているかのようです。作者は「人々の内なる心の中にこそ、救いの光がある」と考えました。遠く離れた霧信号所と霧笛の呼応、人々の連帯に似ています。サウンドアート、音楽、映像、写真とボーダーレスに活動している作者ならではの、安全を願う「現代の霧信号所」です。

CREDITS:

Music Composition + Sound Design +Lighting Design + Programming: Corey Fuller

Cooperation: WHITELIGHT, Hideyoshi Taniguchi