October 10, 2001, Los Angeles, CA - The first major European installation by artist Hiro Yamagata, PHOTON 999, will open on October 29, 2001 at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao Spain. In an outdoor environment along the exterior of the Frank O. Gehry-designed building, the artist combines laser technologies with refractive surfaces and techniques, and explores links between science and art. The installation will change several times during the course of the exhibition, offering a new and equally unexpected experience on each visit.
“By bouncing multi-colored and intense laser beams around the exterior structure and creating multiple layers of light, we begin to understand and perceive the ways in which the sun’s rays divide light into color, and how we are impacted by the elemental forces of light,” says Yamagata. According to architect Frank O. Gehry, “Yamagata is an artist for the new century. He has commandeered the most advanced technologies available to the science of light.” The artist’s unique approach to light, objects and space provides new insight into the physical sciences by placing the viewer squarely in an environment of light.
The installation is comprised of multiple laser systems (15 in total) holographic surfaces that completely cover a temporary walkway over the museum’s exterior reflecting pool and over 200 mirrors for laser beam reflections. With the addition of complex computer systems to operate the lasers in a program designed by Yamagata, the beams travel across, over and between various portions of the exterior, immersing the viewer in a sea of color and light.
Yamagata has worked with a highly trained team of technicians, over 30 for this project, to create this complex installation. Beginning with 15 laser systems (procured from Germany, Spain and Canada) that are evenly spaced around the outer edge of the reflecting pool. Multiple mirrors are installed on a temporary 20 meter high truss structure lining the exterior of the building to reflect each individual laser beam in a series of patterns the artist has worked on for over six months. The computer system controls each laser to change color, patterns, speed, duration and intensity. The guest walks on the specially designed walkway positioned just above the water and spans the length of the pool some 300 feet. Mylar holographic panels that are applied to the surface of this path refract the light from the lasers and, in combination with the grid of laser patterns overhead and the reflection from the water envelop the viewer with ever changing dimensional patterns of colorful laser light.
Over the last four years Yamagata has produced several other large-scale laser installations. In 1997, Yamagata began his transformation of the gallery space with “Element,” a six part series of environmental installations using theater lights, holographic effects and lasers. In 1998, he created a unique public exhibition when he “flooded” over one mile of the Los Angeles River with monumentally scaled laser lights. Yamagata’s current installation at the Ace Gallery New York relates to his fall 2000 installation at the Contemporary Arts Museum in Cincinnati. His recent installation, NGC6093, his largest ever, encompassed 25,000 square feet at the Ace Gallery. This project saw over 120,000 visitors over a six-month period (May-Oct. 2001) and received critical acclaim from all facets of the art community. In addition, his ongoing exploration of immersing environments is perhaps best represented by the artist’s studio, or “laboratory,” which is a permanent, yet constantly changing installation.
Hiro Yamagata was born in Japan in 1948, and studied at L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, where he befriended members of the Beat Generation including Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso. He moved to Los Angeles in 1978 where he continues to live and work.
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