“TURNINGPOINT”

Rogaland Theatre, Stavanger 2001 

(KORO Public art Norway)

New addition to the old theatre building

 

Columns of white translucent enamel glass and hand-rolled lamp glass are

set in the facade of the new addition over two floors. The white glass is

cut by hand in small pieces, and is set in between the laminated glass

during the installation. This leaves areas of clear glass in between the

white glass.

The columns act as a metaphorical pivot point, like the one that exists

between the stage and the auditorium. What you experience depends on

your position. Before a theatre performance starts any activity is created

by the audience, while during the performance it is the actors on stage

who are moving. The lights follow this activity: when the audience has

found its seats and the lights are turned off the stage, by comparison, is

fully illuminated. The sound of this moment, when the auditorium lights

go down and the stage lights come up is captured and broadcast outside

the building, as if a window were half open somewhere.

This sound is audible outside the building all night until the following

morning.  At the same time the columns are illuminated and slowly

change colors from red (like the velvet auditorium itself) at night, via

orange to yellow-ochre by morning. (Yellow-ochre is the color of the old

theatre buildings.)

The LED light is programmed in a very slow pulse, impossible for the eye

to register any change, but the color is different when you get out after

the performance than it was when you came to the theatre.

The white glass spreads the daylight in a nice way during the day, and

passers-by can glimpse the activity in the building.  The theatre staff who

use the building during daytime are protected from public view, however

they can look out through the areas of clear glass.

 

The intention has been to capture the moment of expectation when a

performance is about to begin.