Lucerna
Tortosa, ES
2021
Lucerna is a temporary urban installation designed for the A Cel Obert Festival in Tortosa, Spain. The monumental-scale lamp occupies the central patio of the Purissima Concepció Monastery, radically transforming the 17th-century building with light and color. Lucerna is a word with a double meaning. It refers to upper openings in rooms that allow natural light to enter a space, but also to a term coined by the Romans to describe ancient ceramic oil lamps. The proposal draws on the intersection of both notions, to explore a contemporary interpretation of the classic lamps that illuminated the most iconic sacred spaces in history, from the Cathedral of Reims to the Hagia Sophia Mosque. The installation is built with six wooden rings, supporting a series of LED light strips on their inner edges. Corrugated translucent fiberglass membranes cover the rings to guide natural and artificial light to the ground. When night falls, the lamp becomes a vibrant vessel of light that transforms the patio through its brightness and color. Thousands of residents are then invited to discover and reactivate their city's forgotten and hidden spaces.
Authors:
Manuel Bouzas
Santiago del Águila
Lighting Designer:
Ana Barbier
Photographer:
Antonio Bouzas
Client:
A Cel Obert
Xarxa Transversal
Sponsors:
Casambi, Difusiona
