Hasta La Motion!

The Light Barrier series by studio Kimchi and Chips create volumetric drawings in the air using hundreds of calibrated video projections. These projects merge in a field of fog to create graphic objects that animate through physical space as they do in time. The installations present a semi-material mode of existence, materializing objects from light. Light Barrier Third Edition is a new installment in this series that exploits the confusion and non-conformities at the boundary between materials and non-materials, reality and illusion, and existence and absence. The viewer is presented with a surreal vision that advances the human instinct of duration and space. The name refers to the light barrier in relativistic physics, which separates things that are material from things that are light, and since 1983 has been used to specify the exact meaning of the metric system of spatial measure. The 6-minute sequence employs the motif of the circle to travel through themes of birth, death, and rebirth, helping shift the audience into the new mode of existence. The artists use the circle often in their works to evoke the fundamentals of materials and the external connection between life and death. The artists are interested in how impressionist painters were inspired by the introduction of photography to create ‘viewer-less images’. The installation allows images to arise from the canvas, creating painting outside of perspective. It is a direct approach to the artists’ theme of ‘drawing in the air’. In this edition, 8 architectural video projectors are split into 630 sub-projectors using a structure of concave mirrors designed by artificial nature. Each mirror and its backing structure are computationally generated to create a group that collaborates to form the single image in the air. By accurately calibrating each of the 16,000,000 pixels individually, light beams can be merged in the haze to draw in the air. 40 channels of audio are then used to build a sound field that helps to solidify the projected phenomena in the audience’s mind. The third edition of Light Barrier was commissioned by the Asia Culture Center in Gwangju. The technology is enabled by Rulr, an open source graphical toolkit for calibrating spatial devices, created by Kimchi and Chips. Concept, Design, Programming by Kimchi and Chips Mimi Son Elliot Woods Sound Design Junghoon Pi Engineering Youngjae Chung Studio Sungshin Production Team Soyoung Lee Yoona Yang James G Jackson Donshoo Yoh Donghoon Yi Asia Culture Institute ACT Center Studio Team ACT Center R&C Team Videography Seunghyeok Bak Yooseok Kim Asia Culture Center