In April 2017, world-renowned glass artist David Gappa’s glass-and-steel installation, “Introspection,” was unveiled at The University of Texas at Dallas’ Center for BrainHealth. The work makes visible a hidden process that occurs in the body: the communication between nerve cells to capture the essence of thought as it pulsates through a field of synapses.
“Introspection” is an intricate, ceiling-installed sculpture that’s fifty feet wide, forty feet long, and weighs 5,300 pounds. It comprises one hundred and seven- ty-five LED-illuminated glass spires and 1,050 hand-blown glass spheres.
Each individually illuminated spire averages six feet in length and pulsates an array of colors across the entire piece, like the electric impulses passed from one nerve cell to another.
Gantom Lighting & Controls provided the lights for this installation, MP Custom Fabrication provided the steel fabrication, and Gemini Lighting programmed all the lights and coordinated between Gappa, MP Custom Fabrication, and Gantom on how best to fit the Gantom light sources into the steel fixture units.
THE CHALLENGES
One of the biggest challenges in creating this installation was lighting the fixtures to imitate the process of synapses firing. An external light shined on the fixture wouldn’t come close to simulating the biochemical processes taking place within synapses.
Small, Programmable, Internal, Full-color-spectrum Lighting
“Early on, much of our time was spent trying to find small, low-profile lights that were powerful enough to illuminate a six-foot-long, handblown glass spire internally and have the full-color spectrum available to us,” Gappa explained. “I was working with MP Custom Fabrication on this project, and we met with countless lighting designers and LED vendors in search of the ideal product, but we kept running into sub-par lighting options. Gantom was the only one that even came remotely close to offering the lumens we needed in a small, programmable product,” he stated.
Finding a Lighting Vendor Who Could Design and Configure the Programming
“Our biggest frustration was finding a lighting vendor that not only knew how to spec a light source but also could also design and configure the programming to achieve the col- or-changing movement I desired,” stated Gappa. “Gemini proved that they had the technical knowledge to implement, design, and install the lighting in a project of this size.”
Getting the Lighting into the Introspection Sculpture
“The final challenge was getting the lighting into the sculpture and functioning at the power and color spectrum I had in mind,” said Gappa. “When we met the team at Gemini Lighting, they showed us your product’s illumination power within our blown-glass vessel. After we saw this, we were sold. Besides finding a way to incorporate the lighting into the sculpture, there needed to be data capability that allowed the lights to receive and respond to signaling and programming. Also, these lights needed to be professional grade because they’d be part of a permanent installation. As a further challenge, the lights needed to be small and low-power yet bright.”
The solution was to blow the glass components of the sculpture around the lights and then program them.
Watch the Video: https://bit.ly/2NuklhN
Bringing the Artist’s Vision to Light
“The success we achieved with the help of Gantom’s products and Gemini’s assistance can be seen in the reaction of everyone that sees “Introspection” especially at night with its full spectrum of color-changing light,” he said. “I feel great peace in my mind and spirit knowing that I not only chose the right product but also chose the right team to implement such an incredible installation. Thank you, Gantom, MP Custom Fabrication, Gemini, and—finally—my amazing team of glassblowers!”
