Jason Bruges

7/28/2019 Jason Bruges

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Rebecca Bost Light-Space Art

Artist Research: Jason Bruges Studio Fall 2011

with new light technologies and their capabilities. The thread of creating personalizedexperiences remains a constant in their work, through interactive environments where light

responds to motion.

Jason Bruges deep interest in light responding to motion and other external conditions arosefrom influences such as Toyo Itos 1986 Tower of Winds in Yokohama, Japan. Itos tower

responds to wind speed and directionan early exploration of responsive architecture. JBS

studies the notion of light responding to wind in several light-art installations. TheirAnemograph

(2006) and Phosphor Field(2008) projects shift the response of light from the motion of peopleto the motion of wind. Light serves the function of encouraging greater awareness of ones

environmental surroundings. Pushing this idea of environmental stimuli further,Aeolian Tower

(2008) and Wind to Light(2007) harness the power of wind in generating light. Light becomes

not only a response to the wind but a creation of it. These light-wind art pieces provoke questionsof energy sources and uses. Whereas installations mentioned earlier engage people in a physical,

tactile way, projects like Wind to Lightengage them intellectually. It forces one to consider the

invisible source of energy that surrounds us, making a visual argument for the use ofrenewable energy through sustainable art.

JBS uses light as a visual indicator of environmental impact with projects like Power Up (2008),

where energy monitoring equipment relays energy use data to illuminated globes that then

communicate changes and fluctuations in local electricity demand. Bruges utilizes light as asocial tool, bringing awareness to urban energy use conditions. The studios light-art is never

light for the sake of light but always contains an ulterior role of dialogue with the consumer.

Their projects disseminate information, educate with new technologies, advance socialarguments, and engage people in physically immersive situationsall by means of light. In this

sense, their installations are indeed narrative based, as they tell the story of what moved here or

how fast the wind blew across the river. Their repeated explorations of digital memorynecessarily fall back on the idea of an underlying narrative. Storytelling often manifests as thecommunication of collected memories.

The time-based, changing nature of their work seems to be best represented in film. The JBS

website documents many of their projects in video format, with still images serving as secondarysupporting evidence of the event. In making proposals for light-art installations, JBS uses very

conventional means of representationlight rendering software, digital models, sketches,

Photoshop, CAD drawings, and physical models and mock-ups. In an interview with Design

Week, JBS studio manager Sam Hoey emphasized the continued importance of developingphysical models alongside digital renderings in the design process. JBS project manager Miriam

Sleeman admits the challenge of translating something modeled in Rhino to the real worldachallenge many of us struggle with almost daily in the academic studio setting.


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Bibliography

Jason Bruges Studio, www.jasonbruges.com.

Sunderland Station Revamp Has Ghostly Feel, Sunderland Echo, 25 May 2010,

http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/local/sunderland_station_revamp_has_ghostly_feel_1_1112178

Jason Bruges Ghostly Wall Brings Light to #7m Station Refurb, Design Week 24. 27 (Jul 9,

2009): 4.

The City as a Canvas Panel Discussion, Onedotzero, http://www.onedotzero.com/the-city-as-a-canvas-panel-discussion/education/

Interactive Light Sculpture, Design Week 20. 47 (Nov 24, 2005): 4.

iLight Controls Energy Saving Showpiece for Greenpeace Display, M2 Presswire [Coventry],

09 Jan 2008: 1.Bruges on the Pulse for Leicester, Design Week 20. 10 (Mar 10, 2005): 6.

Jason Bruges Studio Creates Installation, Design Week 23. 46 (Nov 13, 2008): 3.

Light Fantastic, Building Design (Oct 25, 2002): 12.Model Making: New Model Army, Design Week (Apr 14, 2011): 41.Profile: Jason Bruges, Design Week 20. 25 (Jun 23, 2005): 15.

Solutions: Lighting Glowing Up and Down, Building Design (Sep 26, 2008): 16.

Lisa Murphy, Visual Echo a Go-Go, Live Design 41 no2 (14 Feb 2007).

Voxpop: What Iconic Building Would You Like to See in a Museum? Design Week (Mar 31,2011): 11.

Wind Power Lights Up Southbank, Evening Standard [London] (13 Jun 2007): 1.


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Jason Bruges withLight Garden, 100% Design, London, 2007

Greenpeace/Cobbing, http://www.flickr.com/photos/greenpeaceuk/1411817281/

Platform 5, Sunderland Station, 2010 James Medcraft


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North-South over East-West, London Bridge, 2008 Jason Bruges Studio

Memory Wall, Hotel Puerta America, Madrid, 2005 Jason Bruges Studio


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Recall, Broadwick House, London, 2007 Jason Bruges Studio

Light Garden, 100% Design, London, 2007 Jason Bruges Studio


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Mimosa, Milan Furniture Fair, 2010 Jason Bruges Studio

Tower of Winds, Toyo Ito, Yokohama, Japan, 1986

http://www.mediaruimte.be/digital_territories/projects/cybernetic/Tower-of-Winds_Toyo-Ito.html


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Anemograph, Sheffield Millennium Gallery, 2006 Jason Bruges Studio

Phosphor Field, Poole, Dorset, 2008 Jason Bruges Studio


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Aeolian Tower, Southbank, London, 2008 Jason Bruges Studio


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Wind to Light, Southbank Centre, London, 2007, http://www.dexigner.com/news/11197

Wind to Light, Southbank Centre, London, 2007, http://www.dexigner.com/news/11197


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Power Up, Dagenham Substation, London, 2008 Jason Bruges Studio



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Rendering:Rochester Bridge, River Medway, Kent, 2006 Jason Bruges Studio


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Rendering:Rochester Bridge, River Medway, Kent, 2006 Jason Bruges Studio

Renderings: Wind Flowers, Aberafan Beach, Port Talbot, 2005 Jason Bruges Studio


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Model:Light Garden, 100% Design, London, 2007 http://www.dexigner.com/news/11968

Renderings: The Hospital London, Covent Garden, 2002 Jason Bruges Studio

Rendering:Digital Turnstile, GT Turnstile, 2005 Jason Bruges Studio


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Jason Bruges with Flatliner, London, 2009http://www.dwell.com/articles/from-milan-q-a-with-jason-

bruges.html

Jason Bruges withMimosa, 2010http://www.despoke.com/2011/02/17/the-brit-insurance-designs-

awards-16th-february-%E2%80%93-07-august/

Jason Bruges with Wind to Light, 2007, http://www.dexigner.com/news/11197


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Jason Bruges with

Panda Eyes, 2010http://matandme.net/jason-

bruges-currently-a-panda-fan/

Jason Bruges with The

Green Box Project,2011http://culture360.org/opportunit

y/the-green-box-project-global-

fund-for-creative-talent/


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Jason Bruges withNormand Park, Fulham, 2008 Jason Bruges Studio


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Jason Bruges withDigital Fountain, Westfield Stratford City, London, 2011http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23994179-westfield-stratfords-magic-fountain.do

Jason Bruges with O2 Memory Project, 2008 Jason Bruges Studio

Documents

Jason Bruges