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Perth, 17^th November 2014

I have arrived in Perth today to attend to some of my projects here over the coming days; meetings, site inspections and some final aiming and programming are scheduled.

In our work as lighting designer we are guided by experience and inspiration in the creation of our lighting concepts and for that we try to keep abreast of what is happening in lighting world. We attend fairs, we read magazines, we learn from our own project experiences and most of all we look around to what is being created in the world by other designers and artists. A few days ago an innovative project was unveiled in the Netherlands (where else… 🙂 ) in celebration of the 125^th anniversary of famous Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh. His painting, Starry Nights, one I often use in my presentations as an example of creative professionalism, was the inspiration for another Dutch artist, Daan Roosegarde. He created a Van Gogh-like artwork using more then 50,000 mosaic glow in the dark stones which were embedded into a 1km stretch of a bike path which is part of the famous Van Gogh cycle trail in Brabant, a province in the South of Holland. The luminescent stones absorb the sunlight during the day to provide a glowing magical spectacle at night. In some news reports the installation is described as “solar powered”, not sure if glow in the dark can be categorised that way, but it certainly draws its energy from the sun. The wavy shapes of the embedded glow stones are inspired by the wavy shapes of the Starry Night painting.

While not new it is certainly an innovative way of its application. We created a swimming pool with these glow in the dark stones a few years back. Using it on a bike path amidst a landscape that inspired Van Gogh is certainly a cool application and one of those lighting installations that inspire…

Light Watch 5-195: Images from the 1 km Van Gogh Bike trail in Brabant in the Netherlands that was converted in an homage to Van Gogh’s 125^th anniversary…