

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.
‘water-towers’ installed in longwood gardens image © mark pickthall
the LED water towers pulse through different colours in synchronization with a musical score image © mark pickthall
‘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
bruce munro (9 articles)
bruce munro illuminates australia's vast desert landscape in a field of light
bruce munro at cheekwood botanical garden & museum
large scale CD installation at waddesdon gardens by bruce munro
bruce munro: starturn at the holburne museum
bruce munro: field of light at the holburne museum
bruce munro: forest of light
art news
chokoon builds portraits of thai monarchs using only characters from their names
#art
U_nderscore series is a set of computationally generated portrait artwork which touches upon the concept of language and identity.
U_nderscore series is a set of computationally generated portrait artwork which touches upon the concept of language and identity.
leandro erlich raises climate change awareness with traffic jam installation in miami
#art
order of importance recasts our 21st century reality as 66 life-sized sculptures of cars and trucks queue at an imaginary stand still.
order of importance recasts our 21st century reality as 66 life-sized sculptures of cars and trucks queue at an imaginary stand still.
TOP 10 large-scale artworks of 2019
#art
continuing our annual review of the year’s BIG stories, we take a look at the TOP 10 large-scale artworks that caught our eye in 2019.
continuing our annual review of the year’s BIG stories, we take a look at the TOP 10 large-scale artworks that caught our eye in 2019.
benedict redgrove captures the boundary-pushing form of the SALAFF C2 supercar
#art
the photographs portray an elevated and refined vision of the supercar – the fullest expression of SALAFF’s artistic intention.
the photographs portray an elevated and refined vision of the supercar – the fullest expression of SALAFF’s artistic intention.
really pretty!
This is super amazing – going to check this out at Longwood Gardens!
great creative work and love for nature
Beautiful!
FELICITACIONES ES MUY POETICO
Excellent, very inspiring.