Studio29 Lighting Design selected Applelec Lighting’s architectural lighting solution, OLED light panels for their vast light art installation, Murmuration.
Specially created, the illuminated art feature has been installed within the double height reception space of The MET Building in central London. Featuring flexible OLED light panels, the Murmuration light sculpture is suspended from the ceiling, evoking the natural movement of starlings in flight and the spectacular shape-shifting clouds they form when coming in to roost at dusk.
The sculpture blends art, lighting and manufacture with technology, and although the suspended elements do not physically move, the architectural lighting solutions have been carefully calibrated to mimic flight patterns with the light dancing from panel to panel. Housing the OLED light panels, Applelec fabricated, bespoke metal encasements to accommodate the various bends and waves of the individually shaped, flexible light panels. Creating a complete lighting solution, the manufactured metal cases added virtually no depth or thickness to the installation, maintaining the sleek and elegant design.
The interior of the MET Building’s reception space was an important detail for creating the perfect backdrop for the light art sculpture. Replicating a dusk sky, the dark blue background of the reception walls complements the contrasting white OLED light sources, suggesting the ebb and flow of birds in flight as the shapes change and speed increases and decreases, bringing an organic, lifelike, and dynamic feel to the light art installation.
Tony Rimmer director at Studio29 Lighting Design said: ‘Using Applelec Lighting’s flexible OLED panels enabled us to capture the essence of a starling murmuration, mimicking the graceful flow and breathtaking dance of birds in flight. Each individual light panel represents the movement of the birds, following their mesmerising swirls and eddies as they fly in their thousands through the sky.’
Along with manufacturing the completed lighting solution, Applelec worked alongside their partners, Elec-Sys for the install phase of the light art sculpture at The MET Building.