these colorful beams of light sing a hymn of human perception

christopher bauder and kangding ray’s installation, ‘SKALAR,’ at the CTM 2018 festival, taps into the complex, synapse-hopping impacts of light and sound on human perception. it’s within this existential space that viewers may stop, listen to light, see sound, notice their influences, and feel how the emotions respond — when the intangible becomes overwhelmingly tangible, when light and sound are treated as solid materials. 

all images © laurian ghinitoiu

light is made up of photon particles; with SKALAR, light artist christopher bauder blows these particles up to the observable scale — 45 meters in width, 10 meters in height, with 65 motorized mirrors and 90 moving lights. in lovely consequence, we can see the individual units of light and dark, and measure the powerful threshold between them. we experience this threshold everyday, but thanks to bauder, sound designer kangding ray, CTM 2018, and photographer laurian ghinitoiu, we can now stop and question its complexity.

sound waves influence the emotions in ways we normally take for granted; teaming with bauder, enhancing the raw emotion of SKALAR, filling the space with texture and rhythm, is experimental musician david letellier, aka — kangding ray. housed at a former power plant, kraftwerk berlin, is to be the perfect venue for the light and sound sculpture. it was built around the same time as the berlin wall, but now the building is a techno club, resurrected by dimitri hegemann, and home to year-round cultural shindigs, including the recently born-again berlin atonal festival.

supporting SKALAR are the endeavors of art and design studio WHITEvoid, KINETIC LIGHTS, and ROBE. WHITEvoid oversaw production and provided custom software. KINETIC LIGHTS pitched in their precision motor winch systems. and ROBE took care of the moving light tech; their light beams made it possible for christopher bauder and david letellier ‘kangding ray’ to challenge the senses and dazzle the open-minded psyche.