Between the Lines
Har HollandsSpatial patterns of soft yellow light are shining from the arm of an old crane at the Entrepotdok, in changing variations. A red light glows in the driver's area. What is going on there? What do these light lines mean?
With his dynamic artwork Between the lines, Har Hollands disrupts your gaze and encourages you to look differently. Har Hollands is a light architect - in other words, his building material is light. His lighting designs adorn not only bridges and masts, but also shopping malls, pyramids, and temples. For him, light is not merely a means of orientation, but something that has the power to touch people too. With his creative designs, he stimulates fantasy and gives a new light to places that were bare and dark before.
For this edition of Amsterdam Light Festival, he transformed the monumental crane on the Entrepotdok, which dates from 1951. At that time, the crane was used for loading and unloading ships. Merchandise was lifted from the ships so that it could then be transported to the warehouses on the quays. The crane was in use until the 1970s. Now, it functions as a landmark that reminds us of the activity that used to take place in the area. Hollands programmed a large number of lighting configurations for the industrial crane's arm. Recognizable patterns, in different rhythms and variations, are lighting up on its boom. Hollands: "The installation shows that with only 84 lines of light, you can make numerous combinations." The alternating play of light completely disrupts the familiar structure of the arm's robust construction.
"Light is a magical tool for the dark hours, it can give an entirely new atmosphere to a unique urban construction such as this crane."
With Between the Lines, he proves that light not only serves a practical need but can also result in a fascinating nocturnal experience.
Har Hollands
Har Hollands (NL, 1956) studied Architecture and Urbanism at the Eindhoven University of Technology. After graduating, Holland worked as a light designer for Philips Lighting for fourteen years. In 1998 he founded his own studio ‘light architecture’: Har Hollands Lichtarchitect. With his light designs for, among other things, historical buildings, industrial heritage, civil engineering works and public spheres, Hollands not only wants to make places, building and object safer, but also add an extra dimension to their meaning. Hollands also creates autonomous light installations, and between 2010 and 2015 he curated the festival GLOW in Eindhoven.