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Art

Poetic Wisdom Appears on a Building in Las Vegas in New Sunlight-Activated Installation by DAKU

As part of last month’s annual Life is Beautiful festival in sunny Las Vegas, anonymous artist DAKU (previously) channeled natural light to activate his literary installation. Placed on the facade of a building that used to house a book store, jutting letters cast shadows to form a poetic quote. The somewhat decontextualized phrase could reflect on time in general, or perhaps life itself. As the sun shifts throughout the day and casts its shifting shadows, the message appears and disappears, with the physical white letters blending into the building. DAKU, who is based in India and travels widely for his work, specializes in these time- and light-activated installations, which he refers to, collectively, as “Time Changes Everything.”

All art programming at Life is Beautiful is curated by global creative house JustKids, who’ve partnered with the festival from its inception seven years ago. Watch a time lapse of the Las Vegas installation below, and keep up with DAKU’s worldwide travels and installations on Instagram.

Art

140,000 Pieces of Paper Form a Colorful ‘Universe of Words’ Installation by Emmanuelle Moureaux

Tokyo-based French architect Emmanuelle Moureaux (previously) recently hung 140,000 pieces of paper from the ceiling to create rainbow passageways in celebration of a Japanese soft drink company’s centennial. Each piece of paper is cut in the form of a symbol from the Japanese writing system, hiragana. The colorful installation, titled “Universe of Words,” opened this summer during the Tanabata Festival and was inspired by the tradition of writing wishes on paper and hanging them from bamboo branches.

There are 46 basic hiragana characters. According to a statement about the installation, Moureaux chose the simple language because of its use during Tanabata. “The universe created by these floating hiraganas evokes an emotion through its stillness and its endlessness.” Aligned in three-dimensional grids by color, sections of the installation were removed so that visitors could immerse themselves in the alphabetical tunnels, viewing them up close while also looking around at the seemingly endless rows of symbols.

“Universe of Words” is a part of Emmanuelle Moureaux’s ongoing 100 Colors series. To see more of her artistic and architectural work, follow Moureaux on Instagram.

Design Illustration

Swirling Three-Dimensional Script by Designer Alia Bright

Portland-based designer Alia Bright creates interlocking text with bright gradient patterns that combine her background in illustration, fine art, and graphic design. The looping letters are formed from paper and glue, and are created with several different weights and stocks to add a visual texture to the graphic presentation. For Bright, the trick to a successful work is finding the sweet spot where the three-dimensional aspect of the paper highlights the lettering, and vice versa. “I feel a piece is successful when I achieve this, which requires a lot of restraint,” she explains to Colossal. I try to maintain the right level of stylistic simplicity while still creating visual interest through color, pattern, and shadows.” You can see more of Bright’s paper text on her website and Instagram.

Design

Larger Than Life Guerrilla Sign Installations by Trevor Wheatley and Cosmo Dean

Trevor Wheatley and Cosmo Dean work together to create large installations based around phrases and logos that are part of the common lexicon. Casually used terms like “all good” and the shrug emoji take on larger-than-life dimensions in the duo’s three dimensional versions, which are suspended from cables, integrated into chain link fences, toted in truck beds, and painted alongside graffiti. Wheatley and Dean have partnered with music festivals, fashion brands, and the creative house Justkids to install their work. Up next, the artists will be embarking on a trip to Mexico to create new paintings in rural areas. You can see more installations on their website.