Last weekend Barcelona’s community had the great opportunity to celebrate, once again, the LLUM BCN, Festival D’arts Lumíniques de Barcelona! which brings together the most groundbreaking ideas of talented artists who seek to challenge and seduce our senses, with social, aesthetic, urban and even existential issues that were translated using the power of light. The streets of Barcelona’s heart of innovation, the Poblenou neighborhood, also home to IAAC, were illuminated by the most outstanding international creators and students from Barcelona’s art, design and lighting schools.
The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia is pleased to share the three different installations in which we have had the opportunity to be involved, thanks to the very well done work by our students and team members of IAAC’s Advanced Architecture Group on the projects: “Aigua Invisible”, “Amnesia”, “Co-mida”.
AÏGUA INVISIBLE
For the 8th time, IAAC’s students of the Master in Advanced Architecture (MAA02) had the honor to light up it’s installation, on this edition called “Aïgua Invisible ” in the Parc Central de Poblenou, an interactive installation aiming to raise awareness around the footprint of water consumption, one of our most precious resources.
Project description:
We may not realize it, but water is invisible. It is hidden all around us. It is part of the production chain of most everyday objects, ranging from consumer goods to the energy that we consume. However, more importantly, it plays a crucial role in the production process of the food that we eat.
This water is called virtual water, the water needed to produce these products, but the one that we don’t directly interact with. It has 3 water footprints: blue – fresh and ground water, green – water that ends up in soils after rains, and gray – polluted water. Each product has its own water footprint that holds a fraction of blue, green or gray ‘flavors’.
By interacting with the Aïgua Invisible (Invisible Water) installation, visitors will gain knowledge about water footprints of most common food products consumed every day in Europe, with the source of this water being represented in 3 colors: blue, green, and gray.
In order to clearly visualize the idea behind the notion of ‘water footprint’ the structure’s skin is composed of a multitude of plastic bottles. The number of bottles that light up with each showcased product proportionally corresponds to its real water footprint in invisible liters. The installation operates within a concept of data visualization, representing it through a series of dynamic animation sequences with an aim of providing an experience that is both educational and enjoyable.
AMNESIA
“Amnesia” is an immersive installation developed by IAAC’s faculty & Advanced Architecture Group multimedia design expert, Cristian Rizzuti, together with musician and composer Julián Álvarez. The generative laser projection is conceived as a five-stage painting performance. On a circular canvas, memory comes to life, its pulse, its vitality, its loss and whatever is left of it. Light, in contact with the material of the canvas, becomes real in colour, becoming tangible. The colour starts to orchestrate a dance of visual and sound compositions that trace the pulse of life and memory, only to disappear and open the way for the next moment.
Cristian Rizzuti has worked as one of the leading faculty on 5 different installations presented at the Llum BCN festival, La Llum Trafanera (2016), Eolica (2020), Bosc nocturn (2019), Lumina foresta (2021), and this year’s project Aigua Invisible (2022). His personal investigation relies on the role of human perception and the definition of synesthetic spaces and emotional sounds connected to the body. Being inspired by digital arts, live media and interactive experiments, Cristian’s works can be described as light sculpture installations.
CO-MIDA at OffLlum BCN
The BIT Habitat funded Project, Co-mida, developed by the Advanced Architecture Group of IAAC has recently completed the new 3D printed wall embedding a vertical modular photovoltaic system for the cultivation of edible plants. A system co-designed together with the citizens and built at ConnectHort, one of the partners involved in the project.
This year, ConnectHort was one of the hotspots of the OffLlum BCN, a circuit of mid and small-format lighting installations designed and managed by Poblenou Urban District in the framework of the Llum BCN festival. In its first opportunity for being experienced by a wider open audience, Co-mida’s 3D printed vertical system for energy and food production caught the visitors’ attention, who, interested in its striking aesthetics, were able to learn about this project that seeks precisely to encourage citizen participation and cohabitation.
CREDITS:
AÏGUA INVISIBLE:
Students: Elizaveta Veretilnaya, Nan Yin, Rigoberto Moreno, Ziying Zeng, Xingyu Zhang, Jiaqi Sun, Yasmine Chacour, Igwehi Inegbedion, Uri Lewis, Laukik Lad, Elena Petruzzi, Chirag Harshadbhai Shah, Ashwin Parandhaman, Aniket Sonawane, Lekha Gajbhiye, Mahathir Aqeel Kamoor Sourjah, Prarthana Sudhindra, Rana Ibrahim, Daniel Soiral, Hairati Tupe and Abrar Ali.
Faculty: Cristian Rizzuti and Pablo Ros.
Collaborators: Shyam Francesco Zonca.
AMNESIA:
Cristian Rizzuti (concept, visual, programming)
Julián Álvarez (compositor, performer)
With the collaboration of: BARCELONESA DE INMUEBLES, S.L.
Photography: Javier Ortiz San Martín
CO-MIDA:
Co-mida is a project of the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), together with the partners Asociación Sun Sun Love, ConnectHort and Asociación Taula Eix Pere IV.