Immerse yourself in the dazzling artistry of Light: Installations by Bruce Munro. Best viewed beginning at dusk, this new exhibition features eight installations spanning our indoor spaces and outdoor vistas. Some installations have sound, some are static, and all are beautiful—experience them at your own pace and in any order.
Gone Fishing
Small Lake
Three large fountains of light rise from the surface of the Small Lake, each fashioned using 100 illuminated fishing rods that cast lines of light against the dark water. Inspired by long days spent fishing in quiet streams and deep lakes, Munro invites us to pause for a moment and experience the unique joy of being still.
Listen to the audio description of the installation:
Field of Light
Lakes
Sweeping across the fields bordering the Large and Small Lakes, 18,000 flower stems illuminate the landscape. Field of Light surrounds you as you walk along the installation path to the lake where reflections flicker in the water.
Field of Light has been exhibited on several continents across landscapes, waterways, forests, and cityscapes, each location offering a different experience. In 2012, Longwood hosted this installation in our Forest Walk and behind our Small Lake. We are thrilled to feature this ever-changing exhibit again in our Gardens.
Listen to the audio description of the installation:
SOS
Orchard
A line of 162 illuminated cubes winds through a field next to the Meadow Garden where an orchard once stood. Visible from the rise of a small hill, they trace the letter O intersected by the snaking line of the letter S. Pulsing lights are synchronized to the sounds of a radio being tuned by an unseen hand. Voices, pop songs, symphonies, and more emerge from the static. Occasionally, the familiar chatter is interrupted by the universal plea for assistance of three short taps, three long taps, three short taps: SOS. Will we answer?
SOS is an 18-minute long sequence of pulsing light and audio that plays on a loop.
Please note, those with sensory sensitivities should be aware that this installation contains flashing lights and loud music.
Listen to the audio description of the installation:
Time & Again
Paulownia Allee
A large dome composed of stainless steel discs appears to float at the foot of the curved bench at Paulownia Allee. On each disc, lines radiate from the center, bringing to mind the face of a futuristic clock. During the day, each disc reflects the natural world–the passing of clouds, and the movement of the sun. At night, each disc shimmers with radial fibers of light.
Listen to the audio description of the installation:
Ramandu’s Table
Chimes Tower
One thousand white flamingos wade in the shallows of the Chimes Tower basin, a waterfall cascading behind them. The birds are illuminated by the shifting colors of dawn.
Ramandu’s Table interprets the mythmaking of C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia through the whimsy of that American icon, the pink flamingo, designed by Don Featherstone in 1957. Munro cleverly evokes Lewis’s story of the old man who is visited by a flock of white birds every morning as he sings the dawn into existence.
Munro’s white flamingos, inspired by Don Featherstone, are a nod to the creativity of the man who redefined the suburban landscape in 20th century America.
Please note, those with sensory sensitivities should be aware that this installation contains loud music.
Listen to the audio description of the installation:
Green Flash
East Conservatory
A monumental sphere constructed from plastic bottles stands at one end of the East Conservatory. By virtue of a single fiber cable inside each bottle, the sphere assumes the colors of a rising and setting sun, changing over time in intensity and hue.
Every 5 minutes, an elusive “green flash” mimics the natural phenomenon that sometimes occurs at sunrise or sunset when light on the horizon creates a momentary spot of iridescent green.
Listen to the audio description of the installation:
C-Scales: Water Gardens
Exhibition Hall
A captivating projection experience, C-Scales is an exploration of light, water, and time. The Exhibition Hall's sunken floor is transformed into a screen made from hundreds of reflective compact discs. Nodding to the letter C, the universal symbol for the speed of light, Munro thinks about how water might absorb and reflect light to tell a story.
The projection sequence is 25-minutes in length and plays on a loop.
Please note, those with sensory sensitivities should be aware that this installation contains flashing lights and loud music.
Listen to the audio description of the installation:
Time & Place: A Series
Music Room
An exhibit of 34 original works in the Music Room was inspired by a series of 360-degree photographs taken around our Gardens. Munro uses these images as building blocks, transforming their colors and lines into hundreds of vinyl dots which he then reassembles in a new composition. The process, which creates something familiar but new, reflects the mysterious ways we recall and interpret our own experiences of the world around us.
Listen to the audio description of the installation:
