Dark Matter
Recently Graphic Designer Gabriella took a trip to Berlin to seek fresh inspiration, and explore a new country. Here is her account.
During the day, the city is a concrete, brutalist landscape, but by night, parts of the city are transformed into a grunge wonderland of music, community, and light shows.
My plans to find inspiration came in the form of an exhibition by famous light designer Christopher Bauder, well know for his mesmerising club and event lighting.
Dark Matter is an exhibition in the lively Lichtenberg district, located in a former factory site, and next to the famous nightclub Sisyphos. It features multiple light-art installations, all of which are a combination of light, sound, and space. The seven pitch-black rooms making up Dark Matter hold unique sculptural and kinetic visual works created by the artist.
When I arrived at the exhibition, it was already dark outside. Little did I know this would be the perfect transition to a mind-altering experience. As I walked into the first room, all four walls were mirrored, and the ceiling was lit with pixels. The lights ebbed and flowed out of the darkness, creating the illusion of being underwater, and able to see the rolling surface above, stretching as far as the eye can see.
The next room was my favourite of the exhibition. The installation named ‘Inverse’ was a site-specific sculpture and was premiered that evening. It is a kinetic and auditory installation made up of 169 black spheres, all suspended mid-air. The monochromatic visuals of this ensemble presents itself as a silhouette, looming in front of you. A pre-programmed set of strings slowly began to put the spheres in motion. The silhouette awakens into a multitude of flowing shapes, all formed by the mass of individual spheres. Sometimes floating lightly and elegantly like leaves on a summer breeze, and then, sometimes becoming one single entity. The installation fluctuated between a billowing, ominous mass, to a delicate flutter. This continuously changing of form and character was a truly mesmerising display. I could have stayed for hours.
“Lighting and sound can cross every possible barrier and be a universal trigger for a new individual experience, every single one completely different from the next.” - Christopher Bauder.
As I continued through the rest of the rooms, I was captured by the beauty of the way Christopher Bauder is able to use light, form and sound to create a spiritual, emotional, and imaginative journey. The experience will truly stay with me forever.
To find out more information on Dark Matter, see their website at: wwww.darkmatter.berlin
