bruce munro: field of light at the holburne museum

bruce munro: field of light holburne museum, bath, england on now until january 8, 2012

‘field of light’ by bruce munro all images by mark pickthall

a ‘field of light‘ installation by british artist bruce munro‘s is on exhibition at the holburne museum in bath, england. the field encircles the building, infusing the exterior space with an expanse of color and light in the dark.

the holburne installation consists of over 5,000 bulbs planted throughout the grounds of the museum. an intricate network of fiber optic cables connects each acrylic stem crowned by a frosted sphere to the collective sculptural piece.

wide view of the field of light enveloping  the holburne museum

almost 20 years ago, while munro was traveling in australia, he became aware of the seemingly instantaneous flowering reaction the barren dessert had following rainfall. emulating this phenomena, ‘field of light’ remains dormant during the day, but when night comes, the sculpture blossoms into a glowing, vibrant expanse.

alternate view of the ‘field of light installation’

the first ‘field of light’ was installed in the victoria and albert museum‘s pirelli garden in london for the 2004 brilliant! exhibition. since the initial ‘field of light’ installation, munro created the long knoll field in wiltshire, england; a glowing 10 acre installation accessed by public footpath. at the eden project in cornwall, england in 2008-2009, a ‘field of light’ installation spanned the roof of the visitor’s center and consisted of 6, 000 bulbs and 11 external projectors. the holburne museum’s ‘field of light’ is the most recent of munro’s lighting sculptural project.

the projector spreads light to the glowing spheres through fiber optic cable connected to the acrylic base of each piece

  installation view

the implementation of ‘field of light’