bruce munro: light at longwood gardens

covering 23 acres, ‘light: installations by bruce munro at longwood gardens’ is the british artist’s first large-scale solo show above: ‘lightshower’, within the grand conservatory on the garden grounds image © corriette schoenaerts

light by bruce munro longwood gardens, kennet square, USA on now through september 29th, 2012

in ‘light‘, his first-ever large-scale solo show, british artist bruce munro fills pennsylvania’s longwood gardens with sculptural and immersive installations, comprising over the course of 23-acres six outdoor installations, two interior projects within the grand conservatory on the grounds, and a collection of illuminated sculptural works in the ‘music room’.

nearly all of the outdoor works seem to hide amidst nature: ‘waterlilies’, composed of hundreds of used CDs, float alongside natural victoria lilies in one of the garden’s lakes, and ‘arrow spring’, named after the river in the book ‘kim’ by rudyard kipling, creates a meandering spring set among the salvia plants.

‘forest of light’ illuminates the woods with 20,000 stems scattered along a forest path. more information and concept renders in designboom’s 2011 preview of the longwood gardens ‘light’ exhibition.

‘field of light’ illuminates the banks of a small lake with 6500 glass-sphered, glowing stems illumination via 13 150-watt metal halide projectors with handpainted colour wheels image © mark pickthall

closer view, ‘field of light’ at longwood gardens image © mark pickthall

daylight view of ‘field of light’ image © mark pickthall

above: ‘waterlilies’ on the large lake, an installation of 100 8-foot diameter and 100 6-foot diameter lilypads covered in discarded CDs image © mark pickthall

brought outside the UK for the first time, several of the installations are site-specific reinterpretations of previous projects. in the gardens’ water meadow, nine small water towers pulse through the spectrum of colours in time to music (more information about the work in designboom’s coverage of its original installation at salisbury cathedral). 7,000 plant-like lighting sculptures comprise ‘field of light’, which is set along the lake banks (first installed at the holburne museum).

‘forest of light’ in the forest walk, a 20,000-stem field of light planted along about 750 meters of pathway illumination by 80 100w halogen projectors with hand-painted colour wheels image © mark pickthall

closer view image © mark pickthall

inside the 4-acre grand conservatory, six ‘snowball’ chandeliers greet visitors, each of them a nine-foot diameter lamp composed of 127 individual glass balls. set further within the building, ‘light shower’ (originally presented in scotland in 2008) creates a rainfall of 1600 drops of light, reflected in the flooded ‘fern floor’.

‘candelight’, built into the garden’s treehouse, unites ceramic xenon-lit candles and angle mirrors to achieve its glowing effect image © corriette schoenaerts

‘arrow spring’ on the flower walk lawn 328 copper fiber optic ‘firefly’ stems planted into a raised bed with salvia plants; illumination via LEDs in 16 oil lamp spheres with internal lens assembly image © mark pickthall

additional view of ‘arrow spring’

installation view, ‘arrow spring’ image © mark pickthall

in the ‘music room’ of the conservatory, six small sculptures are on exhibition, including ‘restless fakir’– a lit fakir’s bed constructed from reclaimed railway sleepers– and the ‘beach without sand’ light wall. the architectural model ‘mettabhavana’ presents a preview of a full-scale meditation temple munro hopes to realize.

‘snowball’ installation in the grand conservatory at longwood gardens

view from below, ‘snowball’

‘mettabhavana’ sculptural installation, part of bruce munro’s ‘light’ solo show

in addition to their form engaging technology in dialogue with nature, bruce munro’s installations make use of low-cost and recycled materials, with a focus on low energy output.

the free ‘light’ apps for apple and android offer maps and additional information about bruce munro’s installations at longwood gardens.

artist bruce munro discusses his work and the longwood gardens lighting installations