REINVENTING HARBOUR CITIES II

Guja Dögg Hauksdóttir:

Illumination and Identity of Our Man-Made Environment

I

“Let there be light” he pronounced, thus making us conscious of what we are given – or not. Light. On one hand the natural light that allows us to navigate in the world, coexisting with the very air we breathe and closely linked to spirit, wonder and metaphores in space. On other hand the artificial light that sets us apart from other animals, providing us the power over space and time, writing our own meaning and creating our own places.

Light. Perception. And orientation. Without light it is difficult to define the boundaries of a given space or surrender to a journey and trust that you reach your destination. Light is associated with optics – the sense of seeing, but is is also closely connected to emotions – the interpretation of what we see with our eyes. Light is shaped in innumerable ways in being admitted, excluded, directed or transformed and informs us if the path ahead is stright or curved, the wall around the house is high or low, or if the bench in the park offers shadow or direct sunlight, even if light alone does not tell us if it feels good or bad, fulfilling or annoying. The word illumination derives from lumen or light, and is originally used to describe the act of decorating written material with gold, silver or bright colors, but it is also used in terms of “bringing into light” or “shining light upon” a certain topic, situation or phenomena. Illumination is a key word of the (dark) middle ages in western history, a period in time where munks in badly lit cloisters spent their time highlighting precious words in expensive manuscripts, thereby materialising information that would separate “enlightened” from a “blind”, the clear knowledge from unclear supersticion and eventually guide way to the bright periode of the renaissance. Just as in the case of light, orientation is also associated with optics. Without orientation we are unable to “see” where we are, and have difficulties interpreting our environment whether it is a natural or urban landscape, the untouched beach or the man-made harbour. The word orientation derives from arrange facing east, giving no special value to the cardinal point of east in particular but rather defining one certain direction to establish the context of all things. Orientation goes hand in hand with our need for identifying the environment that we inhabit or set our destination to explore, and the identity we inevitably seek to give our places is important for our emotional understanding of the rational and dispersive geometry of space put into light. The artists and architects of the Byzantine style used golden mosaics to catch the precious light, reflect and radiate it in a generous manner to the society and give identity to an era of stunning aestetic experiences in the public space of cities. Citizens of today feel amazed when confronted with the numerous glittering giant structures of commercial surfaces in the urban environment. These surfaces look the same regardless of location, be it Iceland or China, the United States or Italy. They serve unclear purposes from unidentified sources. The lack of orientation feeds a growing frustration regarding the contemporary man-made environment. Light is needed - to illuminate the precious identity of our cities.

II

Reykjavik, the capital city of Iceland, is no exeption of other western cities, despite the characteristic nature that is efferverscent and very much a part of the scenery almost everywhere in the urban environment. As an old harbour city, Reykjavik has developed from sea-related activities of fishermen and import-export of goods, but nowadays little is reminiscent of this atmosphere and the once central harbour area hasn´t kept up with the development of the suburbs and outskirts of the city. Like so many other cities it suffers from a slow loss of memory at the same time as its inhabitants gradually realize that a city is not only it´s buildings and streets, but just as much the events and action of the citizens daily life executed in the public space, the squares and the open areas in between the houses. Ever since the first civilized settlement of men in organised urban environment, architecture and art has consciously been used in various ways and style to express the ideology and power of the ruling force or civilisation each time. For centuries the urban environment has been deliberately shaped and impregnated with meaning using the latest technical achievement to emphasize a certain identity and thus transforming mere space into a emotionally ladden place, unique in character and unlike other places. But the modern city of the 20.century has deliberately abandoned emotion from the visual surroundings, it has turned buzzing streets into effective highways, sensuous marketsquares into safe malls who close at six o´clock, and risky parks into gloomy parkinglots. The collective space is no longer the social space of the citizens individual experience. And people are getting frustrated.

However, there is growing signs of changes. Many cities are facing demands for new urban forms, evolution of city life and basically reinvention of the current city. Citizens of the 21.century demand inspiring urban spaces that offer stimulating perception, vivid experiences and settings for the moments of urban life. We need to acknowledge that the man-made environment of architecture and art in public spaces adds to our basic urge for orienting and identifying by adressing our feelings. But the ambition of todays information-society must be other than sternly return to classical cityscapes of other eras, regardless of the obvious charm of Venice´s, Paris´ or Stockholm´s old city centers. Our task must be to pay renewed respect to the importance of the collective space, as well as boldly face new topics of of contemporary culture such as sustainability and other issues. We must define the ideology and express the civilisation of our time, and make use of the latest technical knowledge to create meaningful urban spaces in our cities. And the relatively recent emergence of architectural lighting design, not restricted to the lighting of individual buildings or monuments - but rather focusing on the enhancement of public areas with intelligently applied light challenges the traditional field of architecture and art.

III

Light. Space and time. Some seventy years ago the art- and architecturetheoretic Sigfried Gideon launched his ideas regarding an additional dimension of time to the traditionally accepted definitions of height, width and length of a space. He stated that our emotional experience of visual environment was of much bigger importance than we were willing to admit, and the aspect of immaterial time was crucial to the perception of both art and architecture. The notion of light and shadow during the day, shift of the seasons and your own change with age over time obviously all play a vital role in experiencing the many facettes of man-made environment. In this sense it is interesting to follow the current evolution and interventions concerning the artificial lighting of space, where light is used as the tool for urban development which approaches our emotions as well as fulfills practical purposes. Lighting is used to assert and reveal the identity of cities´ various spaces, to model space in a district, sculpt volume in a building, set off a treasured spot and promote artistic illuminations. Lighting designers stress the importance of quality over quantity when working with light in public space, and artists join the designers in creating temporary installations or events in urban space. Ordinary citizens become active participants in the metamorphosis of their everyday environment in organized Guerrilla actions, Light Bombardment and interactive video projections. Inhabitants of a new residential quarter of a former harbour area enjoy a suble lighting of the neighbourhood in stead of the traditional floodlighting, and residents of another place get renewed delights in their evening stroll by a poetic lighting scheme of the local river. Every place generously offering inspiring emotional experiences and precious identity.