(IN) Material as part of Llum BCN 2018

(IN) Material is the name of the installation proposed by APDI for the Llum Bcn Festival, designed by Mariel Fuentes (Ldluz) + Michela Mezzavilla (reMM).

From the observation of the context of the Plaza de les Glories, as a meeting point of different layers of construction and deconstruction and both physical and conceptual connections, the installation proposes a reinterpretation of the six prisms of the skylights of the Museum of Design, as light catalytic elements.

The piece reflects on light, as intangible matter, which reveals its presence and its characteristics only by interacting with materials and under some specific conditions. The prisms of the six skylights inspire the design of six structures of subtle translucent threads that play to decompose their same geometry generating new dynamic and enveloping compositions. The six structures, finally located in Room A of the Design Museum, are materialized and dematerialized according to the progression of the observer's point of view and according to the presence or absence of artificial light. The fine lines are tracing the limits of imaginary planes, which create multiple layers superimposed on each other, generating optical effects of visual dynamism. On the other hand, the lighting, hidden in the support structures of the looms, generates a reading layer of the added space, granting materiality, color and dynamism to elements that are otherwise translucent, ethereal and almost invisible. The visitor has the option to observe the whole from a distance, to appreciate the interrelation of the forms and the dynamisms of light, or to get inside each one of the structures, for a more personal and immersive experience.

The 6 pieces of (IN) Material have been made by weaving almost 5000 linear meters of translucent wires tied to upper and lower metal profiles in which digital RGB LED strips are housed controlled point by point. Protopixel has been the technological partner of APDI for this installation, providing a technology of agile and sophisticated control at the same time. Through suggestive and subtle programming, able to interact with people and the sound of the environment, the dynamic light generated by Protopixel manages to give life to the installation according to an always changing and captivating rhythm.

The installation plays with transparency and materialization generating visual connection between the interior and exterior and different readings as the observer's point of view changes, from the perspective farthest to the most immersive vision. The vanishing points become protagonists and give the visitor a new vision of these six pieces, reinforcing the effects of depth, materialization and dematerialization. (IN) MATERIAL is a history of materialization and dematerialization, transparencies, reflections, connections, layers of reading and visions of new perspectives.