Key takeaways
- RADIANCE measures 60 × 35 × 5 feet (18.29 × 10.67 × 1.52 meters) and hung above the orchestra for three consecutive performances.
- The Los Angeles Philharmonic commissioned the work to accompany Scriabin's Prometheus: The Poem of Fire, Op. 60 (1910).
- Amorós programmed the sculpture and the hall's house lighting as a single system, with a sequence composed second by second across six synchronized moments.
A 60 × 35 × 5 foot light sculpture pulsed above the Los Angeles Philharmonic for three consecutive performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The Los Angeles Philharmonic commissioned the work, titled RADIANCE, from Peruvian-born American artist Grimanesa Amorós to accompany Alexander Scriabin's Prometheus: The Poem of Fire, Op. 60 (1910).
The installation takes fire as its subject, resolving into the form of a pulsing spark suspended over the orchestra. Amorós drew on two cultural references: Prometheus, who gave fire to humanity, and Viracocha, the Incan creator deity. Together, the references frame light as a carrier of knowledge and a medium of transformation.
Amorós has worked with light as both material and language since 2002. RADIANCE extends that approach to an architectural scale.
One Lighting System, Sculpture and Hall
The sculpture is built from reflective material, color-shifting rope-like LED tubing, and custom electrical hardware. A lighting sequence written specifically for the work controls its changing illumination.
The commission's central move is the integration of the sculpture with the concert hall's existing house lighting. Amorós programmed both systems as a single lighting environment, connecting the suspended sculpture with the architecture and the performance rather than treating it as an isolated object within the space.
The sequence was composed second by second in relation to the orchestra and develops through six major synchronized moments. The lighting of the sculpture, the concert hall, and the performance progress as a coordinated system throughout the work.
Photographs from the performances show the installation shifting across a deep red state above the orchestra and chorus, an amber phase carrying color across the suspended strands, the stage, and the seating, and a blue and violet state set against the hall's timber interior. In a frontal view lit deep red, the concert hall's organ remains visible through the strands.
RADIANCE measures 60 × 35 × 5 feet (18.29 × 10.67 × 1.52 meters). By synchronizing house lighting with a suspended artwork, the project points toward a model where concert venues operate as a single programmable visual instrument rather than a static backdrop for music.
Original: grimanesaamoros.com
