NEWSUBSTANCE’s Spectra installation nominated for ‘Light Art Project of the Year’ award at the 2019 Lighting Design Awards

We are ecstatic to be shortlisted for the Lighting Design Awards 2019. This is
another exciting achievement for Spectra, which has been nominated for
‘Light Art Project of the Year’.

Spectra is a seven-storey installation that lets visitors to the Coachella Valley
Music and Arts Festival journey through its spirals of colour and view the
festival site from an entirely new perspective. The structure was one of six art
installations commissioned for the festival in 2018, and was the first Coachella
art installation to have been designed and fabricated outside of the US.

During Coachella’s daylight hours all of the light fixtures were set to a warm
temperature. As the sun set and the light levels inside slowly brightened, the
scheme became more dynamic – gently fluctuating, almost as if the tower
was breathing. Later on, slow pulses were sent up through the space,
provoking a palpable response from those inside. At night the character of the
piece changed; radials of LED ceiling lights illuminated the panels and
transformed the tower into a solid beacon of dispersive refraction that
silhouetted its guests. Dynamic spotlights on the roof of the tower extended
Spectra’s presence up into the sky – their aerial effects proving particularly
striking against the dark night.

The nominees for the Lighting Design Awards have been selected from over
300 entries after long and thorough deliberations by a team of senior lighting
designers and architects. The awards ceremony takes place on the 16 May
and we have the date in our diaries!

Spectra is back this year. See it from 12 – 14 and 19 – 21 April at the
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California.