Every Colour You Are is a permanent light art installation in glass and steel, made by the artist Ruth Campau. Lighting design made in collaboration with WSP. Located in the heart of the new facilities of Psykiatrins Kvarter, Södra Älvsborgs Hospital in Sweden, this artwork extends from the ceiling and throughout the six stories, within the main stairwell of the new psychiatric building.
The artwork consists of multi-coloured glass sections, mounted on a brass coloured metal framework. From a distance, this epic installation acts as a vast chandelier which connects the floors in a continuous vertical axel.
Every Colour You Are ads an aesthetic element to the building and conveys the architects intention of creating a warm welcome on entering the hospital, as well as contributing to the hospitals main function of healing people. The installation radiates with colour, life and beauty and gives the place a very special identity. Being a part of the main staircase, it also acts as an important orientation point for visitors and staff at Psykiatrins Kvarter.
It is scientifically proven that the aesthetic dimensions of hospitals contribute to the healing process. The artwork has the potential to shift focus from illness and create wonder, contemplation, joy, and a zest for life. By walking alongside Every Colour You Are, floor by floor, its beauty accompanies and astonishes you. Like a kaleidoscope, the perception of the art piece varies with every step you take, due to the lights path through the different layers of coloured glass. The interplay between natural daylight and the artificial light provides a never-ending variation of light and colour that fills the room with various tinted light combinations.
The outer sides of the glass sections have brush strokes and foil in various colours. The brush strokes are applied by silkscreening onto glass, and the foil is inlaid. Inside the glass installation there are metal frames holding glass panes, each sprayed by hand in different sets of colours by the artist. The glass panes are reminiscent of open windows, expressing that there is a metaphorical open window available to provide resolve and light for us all.
WSP lighting designer Karin Hansson and Sara Noguera Plans has in collaboration with the artist, the architect and a LED manufacturer developed custom made Tunable White LED fixtures, integrated inside the art installation. They are designed to enhance each set of coloured glass panes in an intricate way, and to ensure there is no glare in any direction of view.
The light temperature and intensity varies within the installation, it has been carefully tested for each set of coloured glass panes. The artificial light alters in three different light scenes during the day; one for dusk and dawn, one for the hours of full daylight and one for the night.
The title Every Colour You Are refers to the many colours in the installation, but also that people have different ways of seeing the world, and there is room here for everyone.
