My Sunshine
In the year 2000 the Danish artist Olafur Eliasson,
participated in the Panorama exhibition in Utrecht
where he realized his work entitled Double Sunset.
It consisted of a 40 meter diameter disc of semi
transparent plastic, retro illuminated by a set of neon lights.
The disc was attached above a building and seen from a
distance it looked like an abstract copy of a sunset.
In 2003 Elisson was invited to exhibit in
the Tate Modern’s Tribune hall in London, which is, the
biggest one room exhibition space in the world.
There he presented The Weather Project, a 50 meter
diameter sun in a closed space.
And that was just a part of the project.
In the show he questions our relations to the weather.
The response was, one of the most visited exhibitions
of all time, more then 2 million visitors in tree months.
People were coming to the museum just to admire the sun.
The village of Viganella in the Italian Alps also received a
alternative view of the sun.
The village lies on a side of a mountain where another
mountain cast a shadow for four months of the year,
from November till May.
The mayor with the help of architects and engineers
constructed a mirror in the higher parts of the near
mountain, to reflevct the sun in the mane squair of
the village.
The mirror is large around 10 meters and it is fixed on
a mobile structure, which rotates and directs the
sunlight only on the village main square.
The largest part of the project was financed by the local
funding and the villagers them selves
The costs were round 100 000 euro.
Now another similar project is being developed in a bigger
town in the Austrian Alps called Rattenberg.
This project proposes to reflect the sunlight first to one
mirror which then reflects in to many smaller mirrors,
which then spread the light in various parts of the town.
The cost of this project supported by the European funding
will go around 2 million euro.
The realisation of these projects was supported by the recent
researches of how the exposition to sunlight influence our
psychological state.
There were even bolder projects, like the Russian
experiments “New light”.
They sent satellites to reflect sunlight in the Arctic region.
The test satellite orbited for one day at high speed,
and it was visible from various European cities.
Due to the deformation of the sail, the predicted
amount of light was not received and the project was stopped.
The Argentinean artist/architect Tomas Saraceno in the last
years is working on construction of a flying city. He realises
flying platforms made of connected helium inflated balloons.
Also, today, many aeronautic industries around the world are
developing new types of flying ships for telecommunication use.
New models and materials are studied, there are even
hard body flying ships, made from material called Aerogel,
which has the consistency of plastic but its light as the air.
Due to rotation of the Earths axis, in the winter period the
area above the Arctic Circle keeps rotating without being
exposing to the sun. In that position the suns rays are not
illuminating the ground, but they are passing above the
ground.
I’m researching the possibilities of realising flying
structure which will reflect the sunlight in the urban areas
around the Arctic circle.
This project involves also a meteorological and climatological
research. Reflecting the sunlight is possible only on clear
sky days which in the winter are only 15%, and if the wind
speed in those days is high the possibilities are even lower.
Due to the fact that the size of the illuminated area
depends of the size of the reflecting surface, well tend to
realize a structure that will be the balance between the
limitations size and simplicity of the structure.
Different variations a possible, a rotating disc, a light
gas
inflated balloon, or even a sustainable hot air balloon, which
uses the sunlight to heat the air which will keep it
floating. The results of the research can later be applied in
different fields, like, sustainable architecture, alternative
energy sources, aerial transport, etc.
What will be visible as an end result will be a copy of the
Sun itself, a copy so close it’ll be impossible to deferent it from
the real sun.
The most important aspect of this project is still the impact
to the local population. Having the possibility to see the
sun in a period in which never before was visible. It wont
be only a strong sensation, but it will also influence their
physical state on a long term base. And it’ll be another
proof of how changing the environment can change our
psychological state.
Nikola Uzunovski