The monument Loom Light is a tribute to Jan Zwartendijk and other invisible resistance heroes of the resistance movement in the Eindhoven region during the Second World War by Titia Ex.
Jan Zwartendijk
Jan Zwartendijk (1886 – 1976) was director of the Philips office in Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1939. When the Second World War started, the Dutch government in exile appointed Zwartendijk as deputy consul in Lithuania. In that capacity, he saved the lives of thousands of Jewish refugees by granting them visas for Curaçao in July 1940.
Light Sculpture
Analogous to Jan Zwartendijk’s approach, visual artist Titia Ex explicitly chooses for a dynamic monument that refers to this history and that also moves with our time. It is an open, organic book, a collection of polyphonic stories, a book that is never finished. During the day, the monument reflects the sunlight. In the evening, a feast of lights emerges, referring to Hanukkah, in which the light is lit for eight days by an invisible hand.
It is a tribute to Jan Zwartendijk and the countless invisible people who have devoted themselves to saving lives.
Exchange of energy
The light and dark loom up in spirals through the sculpture. You experience the energy of the ever-changing light, both in tone and in saturation. The work is interactive and reacts to the approaching visitor. The artist transforms the energy, this conscious action, of every visitor, into a dynamic light motif. In doing so, Ex indicates the importance of the acting role (however small) of every individual, in order to give direction to the future.
Technical innovations
The lighting design runs through a parametric model that generates light behaviour. This creates a light image that seems to live by dynamically adapting to its surroundings. The 3D-printed sculpture parts are made from 450 kg of recycled plastics, including old CDs; a finding by Philips and mounted over the LEDs to give the light a more diffuse appearance. This 3D-printed pattern creates an effect of depth that influences the light shades, which evokes a soft, misty atmosphere.
