Steven Rand

Steven Rand (*1953 Tarrytown, US) uses large-scale light installations to alter how buildings are perceived. Through the selective use of LEDs, a space becomes a canvas for colour, its entire expanse a whole in the eyes of the viewer. The function of the architecture is no longer what counts, it's the size and reach that transport the colour. Referencing minimal art's Dan Flavin (*1933 New York City, US; †1996 Riverhead, US), Rand's modern LED technology bridges the gap between minimalism and kinetic art. The light installation that transforms the Office's façade at nightfall pulses through a carefully choreographed cycle of 16.7 million colours, with no shade repeated in the course of an entire year. The idea is to keep people who see it all the time seeing something new. Not far from Rand's installation on the grounds of the EPO stands a work titled "Zwischen Sonnentor und Mondplatz" [Between sun gate and moon court] by Hannsjörg Voth (*1940 Bad Harzburg, DE). By positioning his sun gate in a way that allows the sun's rays to shine through at precisely noon, Voth references the existence of natural forces and the course of time in an urban setting. Rand, however, deliberately opts to illuminate the space in artificial light, using changing colours to highlight the building's volume, and thereby altering the seemingly static urban setting every two seconds with almost imperceptible colour variations.