Light Touch: Sensual Installation Lets Visitors Feel Luminescence

light art shimmering walls

In a new light art installation dubbed Sense of Field, Tokyo artist Hitomi Sato lets visitors simultaneously see, touch and shape shimmers of light all on sides.

The immersive experience is facilitated by thousands of transparent tendrils extending from two walls opposite one another. Each visitor walking between them,touches bristles on both sides, creating waves of motion that can be both seen and felt.

light art hallway installation walls

Perspective matters: observers outside the installation see it all from another angle, experiencing the setup differently primarily as a function of gleaming luminosity. Once engaged through physical contact, sensations multiply as clothing and skin brush beads of heat and illumination.

light art installation tokyo

Of her work, the artist says that “when [she] sees the shimmer of light, images of various natural light comes to her mind. For example, ripples on the water’s surface, sunlight through the leaves of trees, rays from a break in the clouds, and the reflections on window’s glass.”