Luz Æterna: Essay on the Sun

Banco do Brasil presents and sponsors Luz Æterna: Essay on the Sun, an exhibition that brings together seven artists and multimedia art collectives who propose connections between the influence the sun has on the course of humanity and how art appropriates light to create poetics that transcend any other artistic approach.

The exhibition showcases the power of digital art created by Brazilian artists who use technology and light as primordial elements. The same elements that were used to conceive the site-specific works that were tailor-made for the spaces of the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil. Luminous installations and projections invite visitors to immerse themselves in a world of colors and shadows, provoking us to reflect on how light shapes our perceptions.

By sponsoring this project, Banco do Brasil reaffirms its support for visual arts and values an initiative that combines art and technology to provide innovative sensory experiences and amplify the access to culture for Brazilians.

The sun is essential for the existence and equilibrium of the Earth, providing it with the primary source of energy that nurtures the majority of life forms. The central star of the Solar System, it plays a fundamental role in all aspects of terrestrial life, molding existence and sustaining the complex web of interactions that make up our planet.

During the Paleolithic era, the Sun was vital for human survival, because it enabled men to hunt and explore new territories, and ensured the proliferation of the human species. The absence of light leads to darkness, fear and the need to protect oneself from danger. With the advent of societies, the Sun was promoted to deity status and was revered as humanity’s first God. Ancient Egyptian civilization, among others, personified the sun in the forms of Ra and Horus; in Japan, it was transformed into the goddess Amaterasu, and other cultures also created their own solar representations.

The mastery of fire, an element that shares some of the Sun’s properties, such as heat and light, was a turning point for humanity. Through fire, humans were able to conquer darkness and protect themselves. Centuries later, with the advent of electricity, humanity reached the pinnacle of this evolutionary process. Electricity, humanity’s modern “Sun”, symbolizes complete control over its properties, enabling humans to create their own light and mold the world around them.

With the invention of artificial light, new possibilities emerged, opening the door to feats that were previously inconceivable: from the illumination of cities to the creation of technologies that have transformed society. In the domain of art, the light art and new media art movements use light and electricity as foundations for their creations, exploring new forms of artistic expression.

The exhibit Æternal Light: An Essay on the Sun is an artistic celebration of the Sun that highlights its importance to society and to contemporary art. It reflects on how light, be it natural or artificial, continues to be a pillar of our civilization and a source of inspiration for artists.

Antonio Curti

Curator

The creation of Æternal Light: An Essay on the Sun requires an intense exchange of knowledge between artists, technicians and the production team. Each work results from a collaborative process that utilizes technologies such as LED panels, projections and parametric systems. The exhibition is akin to a creative hub in which artists share their experiences and explore technical solutions, culminating in an innovative and immersive exhibition.

The use of nationally-made materials and technology is an integral part of the artworks, highlighting Brazil’s ability to engage with the latest practices in New Media Art. This approach links these creations to technological innovations, exploring light and interactivity in ways that challenge the audience’s perceptions. By combining these elements, the exhibition reveals the expressive potential of technology when linked to visual arts, thus expanding the boundaries of what can be conceived and experienced.

Moving between the physical and virtual worlds, the exhibition creates a hybrid space in which the audience is not merely a spectator but an active participant in the artwork. Digital interactions, present in several installations generate new modes of participation, allowing visitors to transform their perception of reality through the creations. This integration of reality with the digital realm breaks the traditional barriers between art and spectator, offering experiences that challenge sensory perception and the very notion of presence in space.

Designed to uniquely adapt to each location, the exhibition establishes a site-specific relationship with its environment. The modularity of the works allows room for dynamic adjustments, preserving their essence while ensuring the continuity of the narrative, regardless of the particularities of each site.

The exhibition space was carefully designed to ensure that each work maintains its uniqueness. The unifying element of light guides the audience throughout their journey, creating a sensory experience where the environment and the creations merge. The layout ensures that the installations coexist in harmony, providing a fluid and immersive experience.

Felipe Sztutman

Director

Genesis is an immersive work of art designed to transport the viewer on a visual and sensory journey, exploring the history and influence of the Sun, from its cosmic origin to its fundamental role in generating electricity in contemporary society.

It is an immersive room where the surrounding environment is formed by realistic projections that cover all the walls, floor, and ceiling of the space. The images present a poetic and playful narrative, depicting the formation of the Sun, its influence on the evolution of life on Earth and its indispensable role in energy creation.

Some of the images in the projection show the Sun, which appears immense before us, yet it is obscured by another celestial body, as if in an eclipse. An orange circle covered by a black sphere. Its rays project to the sides and illuminate other celestial bodies further away. The body that obscured the Sun dissolves, and it emerges in yellow, emitting intense rays of light that are projected throughout the room.

In another image of the projection, bluish rays pulsate throughout the room. Two blue spheres rotate amidst the rays, which turn yellow, just like the spheres. As the rays vibrate towards the spheres, they explode and continuously reassemble until they break into numerous smaller spheres that wander in the air.

Genesis seeks not only to clarify the importance of the Sun in multiple aspects of existence but also to provoke a reflection on the relationship between nature, technology, and society.

About the Artists

This work was created by the AYA studio, which was founded in 2019 by artist Felipe Sztutman and curator Antonio Curti. AYA is a Brazilian new media art studio focused on the development of cultural projects involving the creation of artworks, immersive installations, and exhibitions that permeate digital art and new media.

Every 11 years, the Sun goes through a period of magnetic activity called the solar cycle. During this time, the poles reverse, resulting in periods of low and high activity. The phenomenon is observed through the identification of sunspots. The work proposes a reflection on solar magnetism and its power to influence even distant bodies in the form of Data Art. Data Art is the visualization of data with artistic interests, which can create fantasy, illusion, and fiction.

But why Ion Watercolor? Ions are atoms that have gained or lost protons, or electrons, and they are responsible for the different colors of the aurora borealis. The particles follow the Earth's magnetic field lines and, upon entering our atmosphere, they mix with gases, creating the fascinating display of the Northern Lights. This phenomenon now comes to life in an interactive experience, where people become magnetic agents, directly influencing the behavior of solar particles.

The work itself is a totem formed by 16 LED solar panels, built in the shape of petals, controlled by a 4k projector and a human capturing device to create this simulation. Thus, each participant functions as a moving magnetic charge, capable of shaping and rotating the solar particles as they move.

In this way, the projector creates images on the floor and walls of the space that represent the movement of ions, in clouds of small particles that react to the visitor's movement in the room. Meanwhile, the LED panels generate luminous effects similar to those of the aurora borealis, producing translucent and colorful luminosities.

About the Artists

The work Ion Watercolor was created by Gustavo Milward and Arthur Boeira. Gustavo is a multimedia artist who focuses on new media and digital technology languages. Always seeking to exceed the limits of interdisciplinarity, he explores the relationship between performance, technological devices, physical, and virtual spaces. Arthur is a programmer, visual artist, and musician and has been active since 2015. His work materialized from constant research in the philosophy of science and technology applied to art.

When the Sun crosses the equator from south to north, this moment is known as the autumn equinox. And it is during this period that nature begins to simplify and gradually conserve resources. It is from these solar cycles that the work, Perihelion, is projected.

It is a video installation in a room with black walls, floor, and ceiling. It consists of two elements: a round convex mirror made of polished stainless steel with a diameter of 110 cm, which is fixed in the center of one of the walls, and a luminous projection that is cast onto this mirror. This light is projected into the exhibition space, and the mirror reflects and illuminates the black room, alternating moments of darkness and brightness.

The luminous projection of Perihelion was created by a computer graphics program using software. The program produces in real-time an ellipse-shaped beam of light that expands and contracts following three different time cycles marked by the sound of a Tibetan bell. The first cycle lasts one minute and goes from darkness to intense light, with a sensory sound that functions as an announcement bell. The second cycle lasts for one hour, marking the rotation around the mirror, a kind of moon, which reflects and diffuses the light from the sky into the environment. The third circuit represents the passage of time between the summer solstice and its equinox.

The result of this beam of light hitting the mirror is the refraction of this light on the walls of the dark room. The curvature of the mirror and the position of the light create different lighting effects, depending on what type of light beam and on which point of the mirror the light is hitting. At times the light illuminates the entire room, at others only a certain point of it. The curved mirror fragments the light, so it reflects in deformed and tortuous rays.

About the artist

This work was created by Bruno Borne. In his works, the artist deals with sensory and spatial issues relating to the exhibition environment, work, and viewer. He produces video installations, sculptures, and prints using computer graphics techniques and procedures related to architecture.

The Solar Fluid experience presents itself as a participatory and immersive visual art piece. It occupies the center of a dark room, and from a base of luminous roots emerges a 3D projection printed on a monitor positioned above the roots.

This work is inspired by the concept of the amber circle, which resides in the solar plexus of living beings and symbolizes the Thelemic Sun. Thelema is a religious philosophy based on a postulate of the same name, adopted as a fundamental principle by some occultist organizations, developed in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley, an English writer and ceremonial mage. The Thelemic Sun carries within it, one’s true individual will and the centrality of the essence of life. The piece presents, in a lyrical and poetic manner, the quest for enlightenment, highlighting the contrast between the unknown and the inner light of each of us.

In practice, the experience lasts about 2 minutes and works as follows: The visitor enters the area where a device captures the shape of their body, and they see their silhouette in the 3D projection. In this initial moment, the silhouette is empty, only the outline is visible. Then, small blue particles begin to fill the visitor's silhouette, creating a sensation of energy in formation. The quantity of particles gradually increases, giving the impression that the visitor's body is transforming into a cloud of points. An amber circle begins to form in the visitor's solar plexus. The amber particles begin to dissipate further filling the visitor's body. In the end, the visitor's body is completely filled with amber particles, symbolizing the full enlightenment of the body.

About the artist

ErotidesNai, or ERO, the creator of the Solar Fluid work, is a creative director from Pernambuco who began her journey in the audiovisual universe within fashion and quickly adapted to the visual effects and technological possibilities of the cinematic world. A specialist in the metaverse and web3, the artist has stood out for the development of immersive environments, avatars, and digital scenarios.

Photosphere is a journey around the concept that permeates our main star, the Sun. Integrating astrophysical and biological elements into a sensory audiovisual experience, a circular screen with generative videos represents the dynamics of the solar photosphere, with real elements and data collected from the universe to create vibrant patterns and ephemeral colors.

Synchronized with an original soundtrack based on real sounds captured from space, the installation establishes a connection between light and sound and conveys the intense variation of solar energy.

In a dark room, visitors are invited to immerse themselves in a journey that captures the essence of the Sun as a source of life and its profound influence on Earth and its creatures.

On the circular projection screen, generative videos created through processes that use artificial intelligence algorithms are displayed. These algorithms can be trained to automatically create visual content, including videos, based on patterns and characteristics learned from data sets.

The images created can be intense orange rays emanating from the center of the circular screen and projecting to its edges; or completely yellowed edges with a dark center, resembling a black hole, purple rays that evolve circularly across the screen, creating random mandalas, and intense white images that highlight the contrasts in the dark room.

Photosphere is a sensory celebration that invites the audience to contemplate the richness of meanings that the Sun offers, from its physical essence to its impact on terrestrial life.

About the artist

The creator of the work is Leandro Mendes, better known as Vigas. He is a Brazilian multimedia artist who develops large-scale projections, light installations, 360-degree projections, and live performances. His public art projects explore an organic aesthetic and immerse the viewer in unique experiences.

The horizon, the line that separates the sky and the earth, is always distant. No matter how much we try to approach it, it remains far away, towards the infinite. But what would happen if, somehow, we could capture it? What would happen if, finally, the horizon were to be beside us and at eye level? Perhaps then it would be possible to understand that the sky is not flat, as it seems when we look up. Perhaps then it would be possible to understand that the things we see do not just happen next to each other, but also one behind the other. Perhaps then it would be possible to see light spreading and dominating space.

The work Sky Zero is in the center of the room and is composed of 16 square luminous panels, each of them supported on an individual stand and cutting vertically through the room one behind the other. As the sound changes its rhythm, its tone, its pace, and other sound characteristics, the light emitted by the panels is changed, creating new and unpredictable forms and ambiences in the exhibition space.

About the artist

A musician, multimedia artist, creative technologist, and developer, Leston carries out works that, from a critical perspective, tense the relationships between art and technology and between music and visuality

Continuum presents itself as an interactive audiovisual work generated by real-time algorithms from solar and weather activity capture systems. In this space, composed of pixel-to-pixel addressable LED bars, light transcends its traditional role and becomes the narrator of cosmic stories. Light becomes more than a phenomenon: it acts as the universal language that invites the visitor to interact and contemplate the noises of a universe constantly in motion.

At the center of the room is a square base measuring four by four meters. On it are installed 49 LED bars divided into seven rows and seven columns, with seven bars each. The bars are luminous and are three meters high.

Based on solar activity, the bars light up in warm color tones such as yellow, orange, and red. These lights move creating three-dimensional designs and patterns. At a given moment, all the bars make the lights rise inside the tube and change color. This movement gives the visitor a continuous sensation of falling, even when standing still. At other times, layers of different patterns and tones, in the various lines of LED tubes, create images with depth and volume. Overall, the images created are always abstract and full of movement and luminosity.

Don't forget that all these images are created by solar activity captured by a meteorological system and generated by algorithms. Algorithms are a set of instructions and rules that a computer program has to execute its functions.

About the artists

Sala 28 is a multimodal creative studio formed by artists Junior Costa Carvalho and Rodrigo Machado. The group operates at the intersection of architecture, design, light, sound, and movement, with the aim of expanding the boundaries of digital art creation and new media possibilities.

You are now facing two tactile objects.

One of them is a sphere made with different types of aluminum wires. It is composed of silver, copper, yellow, and reddish aluminum wires. These wires have different thicknesses, sizes, and densities. The sphere is made up of a thick layer of these tangled wires, but it has a hollow center. In the center of it are small lights that turn on, pulse, and blink. This tactile work refers to the star of this exhibition - the Sun - and materializes various images that appear in different works of this exhibition.

What is it like to have the Sun in your hands?

The second tactile object is a kind of mobile. It is composed of a thick and rigid aluminum wire that forms a spiral. Several spheres hang from this spiral at different heights and dimensions. These spheres are made of transparent acrylic material and have thin wires inside them that give light, brightness, and depth to the spheres. There are some loose ones that can be opened so that the woven wires can be touched. This object alludes to the celestial bodies that surround the sun, and the wire inside them refers to the light that reflects from the sun.

The objects were developed and produced by Mais Diferenças, alongside the artist Paulo Bordhin, and were made especially for this exhibition.