Grigory Maslennikov’s personal exhibition of small architectural forms, “The Balance of the Elements Within You”, has opened at the New Manege. The exhibition features 5 sculptures created for the “Balance” cottage village in Sochi. Each object represents one of the five elements: ether, earth, fire, air, and water. The goal of the exhibition is to take the visitor on a metaphorical journey through the experience that each person faces when they come in contact with a particular element. In addition to sculptures, the experience is enhanced through the decorative design of the space. The use of light-translucent fabrics creates a maze-like effect. In this project, the light not only serves as a guide but also becomes a full participant in the artwork, adding depth and dimension to the exhibition.
The “Ether” in the context of the exhibition is a timeless space, a place where the object itself, which looks like a split rock, becomes the starting point for searching for lighting solutions. Inside the sculpture, the artist originally planned for light to come from within, creating an attractive and endlessly repeating effect with the Astera wireless devices hanging in the space. With their intense glow, they created an illumination that sets the mood for the whole room.By being visible to the eye of the visitor, they resemble the frozen light of stars. We also illuminated the exterior of the sculptures with accent devices, so that visitors can see the color and texture of the sculptural forms.
Further, viewers enter the space of the “Earth”. According to our concept, Earth is a place of birth, a sacred place, and a wonder. To create an atmosphere of sanctity, we placed hundreds of LED candles around the sculpture and supplemented the image with accent devices that use colored light filters. These highlighted the exhibit and added a dramatic effect. The light from a powerful linear lamp illuminates the fabric from the bottom up, creating a visual focal point and outlining the object.
In the “Fire” sector, fire has become the main source of light, so the devices had to be dynamic and lively. They also needed to show all the colours that a person sees when looking at a campfire. We used dynamic glow from linear floor lamps to create a hint of natural light from the fire. This was complemented by accent devices with colour filters that tinted fabrics and sculptures, emphasizing their gradient colouring.
The last room in the exhibition was the “Water” sector. For us, water became a metaphor for rebirth and creation. The main lighting element in this area was an imitation of a caustic light effect using a “light cut” lamp with gobo filters. Thanks to this effect and the overall darkness of the room, we were able to create the feeling of being underwater. This effect clearly showed which element the sculptures belonged to and created a sense of sanctity, unity between man and himself.
