Studio Roosegaarde, Dutch
Waterlicht, 2022
This is a photo from a presentation of Waterlicht by Studio Roosegaarde, a Dutch design lab that focuses on installations relating to social and environmental issues. This image shows light projections of potential sea level rise outside of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The audience can be seen beneath the blue light waves looking up at where the new water level could one day be. This piece shows the extremes of sea level rise and its location outside of the Rijksmuseum shows how sea level rise threatens both the daily life of Dutch people and the cultural institutions present in the Netherlands. Label by Becca Gurysh
Traveling exhibition Waterlicht takes the form of an LED-powered virtual flood, with lights molded to a site’s specific contours and projected amount of sea level rise. The chosen photograph depicts the Netherlands’ historic Loevestein Castle engulfed by glowing ‘waves’ warning how high waters may rise in the area. Nightly visitors are encouraged to both stand above and dive beneath the lit surface by walking around the castle’s outdoor grounds. The viewer’s ability to move throughout the large exhibition space, combined with the installation’s own undulating motions, convey the sheer geographic scope and physical power of rising waters. Label by Lia Deasy
An illusion of water levels rising – this piece uses LEDs and lenses to trick the human eye. It can be difficult to convey a message at such a large scale, especially considering materials, time, and costs, but Studio Roosegaarde effectively utilizes light to create a scene larger than the spectator themselves. Rather than a painting or image on a cell phone, viewers are confronted with the “virtual flood” and find themselves at the brink of imminent real-scale “danger.” And the LEDs adjust depending on wind and rain to show changing water levels. In terms of the use of light, the LEDs cast an ominous shadow over the landscape as if to haunt the space whilst quite literally shining light on the issue of rising sea levels. Label by Grace Cohen