FOCUS 071
Left Jason Bruges Studio increasingly uses technology to reconnect people with nature. ‘The Centre’, an inhabitable artwork, uses light, sound and water to invigorate the senses in a number of ways
Client: Dubai Future Foundation
Location: Museum of the Future, Dubai
Year: 2022
Right ’Where Do We Go From Here?’ featured groups of repurposed industrial robots of varying sizes, located from ground to rooftop in Hull’s Old Town. Interconnected and creating a wide range of light effects, they animated and highlighted unseen places, encouraging people to see the city in a new light
Client: Hull 2017 Location: Hull Old Town, Hull Year: 2017/18
Below left From woodland to deep ocean, JBS’s three immersive, interactive and multi-sensory installations for ‘Life in the Dark’ evoked the mysterious worlds of nocturnal creatures
Client: Nissen Richards for Natural History Museum
Location: London, UK Year: 2018
‘Increasingly, the studio is using technology as a tool to reconnect people with nature,’ says Bruges. ‘Projects are heavily influenced by biophilic design principles and a desire to transform urban life into a more environmentally conscious, nature-oriented experience. ‘Artworks often mimic natural systems or use live environmental inputs to drive visual content. Updating in real-time, the artworks often appear as “living”. As data- driven interfaces between people and the natural world, they have unpredictable behaviours and produce never- repeating patterns, taking on a life of their own.’ Te idea of bringing art into the everyday rather than restricting it to the sanctum of the gallery is core to Bruges’s philosophy. It is partly about human well- being, says Bruges. ‘I’ve always been interested in creating art which contributes to the environment in which it’s situated.’ A recent example is Digital Phyllotaxy, created for Hankook Tire in Seoul (see FX March/April). ‘Workplaces can be stressful so with Digital Phyllotaxy we’re consciously drawing on biophilic design principles to build an atmosphere that enhances well-being. Transporting staff and visitors into nature, the artwork offers a moment of serenity in an otherwise busy environment. It pushes the office beyond its functional value to create a space that cultivates creativity and collaboration.’
telling a story,’ says Bruges. ‘It’s also impossible to think about light without considering shadow. Te interplay of the two introduces an element of sculpture. Where it becomes interesting for me is the ephemerality. Sculpting with light means the outcome is never static – it is alive and changes over time.’
Artworks are often poetic – evocations of blooming flowers (Dichroic Blossom, Guo Rui Real Estate, Beijing), water flowing (Digital Fountain, Westfield Stratford), the murmurations of birds (Wadden Sea Visitor Centre, Denmark) – inspired by nature and rooted in biomimicry.
Te dynamic interplay of artificial and natural light the artwork brings deep into the building generates visual connections across different floors to encourage interaction, says Bruges. ‘It also tells a story about the brand, resonating with the research and innovation taking place in the building.’
Storytelling and theatre are phrases that occur frequently in Bruges’s discourse. His artworks are ‘moments of theatre that transform in response to their surroundings and connect people with their environments’. He loves the theatre of the everyday, he says. ‘Te flux of activity and flow of people is a living choreography I’ve always been inspired by. Te artwork is an attempt to interject in this daily rhythm, to spark
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149
