bálint botzheim and sándor böröcz create abstract architecture out of light in budapest

the installation by trustees bálint botzheim and sándor böröcz animates the transformation of basic forms of architecture within a blackbox space imitating the universe. orchestrated as part of the second national salon of architecture in kunsthalle in budapest, the piece ‘light architecture’ sets the space in motion with a grid of lights that delineates abstract spaces. with the help of virtual components, the viewers not only follow the motion of the shapes and bodies as a performance, but can walk between the light beams, becoming a part of the installation itself. 

the artists animated the lighting effect to create architectural geometries that realistically define physical space. architect péter mátrai composed a piece of music for the installation which is a diagonal matrix of harmonious intervals following the rhythm of the flashing sources of light. the spread of the light points fills in the space, whilst in its middle there is a negative space being born. the form narrows down, turns into a black line, and then disappears. the web of the flashing routes changes into a more and more regular one, the pattern gets organized into floating forms and starts to contract. 

dense beams of light encompass the space, and then shrink into a single tiny sphere. the light point grows and swells into an orblet, its surface sets in motion, and takes on blob-like shapes. the body starts to float as a negative form in the cloud-like configuration. the blob of light moves upward and gets out of the matrix, the form returns with hard contours, the silhouettes soften up, the light body narrows down and creates a negative space, then elongates, and twists into a slender column. 

the forms softly blend with each other, and return to the beginning of the sequence. the light installation is a matrix of 16x16x10 rgb pixels, in the middle of which there is an irregularly shaped five-pixel high corridor. the light matrix encompasses approximately 2,500 individually addressable and controllable pixels, divided on 16 art-net universes. 

the ideal form completes the process in the episodes animated by the drifts of light that move along new geometries. with this exhibition, the salon of architecture commemorates the hungarian-born masters of light, especially lászló moholy-nagy, istván sebők and andor weininger on the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the bauhaus. 

project info:

artists: bálint botzheim and sándor böröcz

project name: light architecture

location: kunsthall, budapest, hungary

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: cristina gomez | designboom