seoul studio kimchi and chips sculpt with sunlight to create HALO

seoul based art studio kimchi and chips are known for manipulating space with intangible matter. atmospheric sculptures are created using projected light, lines or pixels. the studio presents their latest installation HALO at the somerset house in london as a continuation of their ongoing series, ‘drawing in the air.’ natural sunlight is used as a medium to sculpt form which exists between material and immaterial.

founded by mimi son and elliot woods, kimchi and chips redirects the sun’s rays with over 100 motorized mirrors. these mirrors, arrayed across two 4 meter high towers and one 15 meter long track, move in line with the sun throughout the day. with these mirrors, natural sunlight is sculpted to take the form of a halo, floating in mid-air and made visible by fine water jets in a cloud of mist. this is the first time that kimchi and chips work with entirely natural, rather than artificial light. because the visibility of the ethereal halo is entirely dependent on the strength of the sun, the sculpture is in a constant state of flux.

beside the courtyard is an open studio where the concepts and technology behind the installation are on display. various prototypes and sketches are on display as well. kimchi and chips collaborated with the scientific research division of london based improbable worlds limited to develop a mathematical model and virtual simulation of each mirror. in order to achieve a clear halo, each mirror was given a set of parameters which accomodate for its unique position, rotation, axis offsets and polynomial correction parameters. the studio had documented the making of HALO.