Beacon Park’s latest exhibit is inviting visitors to “shape (their) worlds” with an immersive installation that combines music, light and movement. “Shape Your World” runs until Oct. 3 and features Optik, a series of interactive gyroscopes from the Brooklyn-based Urban Conga design studio, produced by Creos and co-hosted by the Downtown Detroit Partnership.
“It gives visitors the opportunity to be thoughtful and intentional in terms of understanding their role in the environment and the ecosystem,” says Beacon Park Manager Chris Polk. “But it also gives a little bit of creativity and personal touch, because you can actually manipulate the gyroscopes based on your thought, your vision and what mood you’re in at any given time.”
Optik includes 10 6-foot gyroscope-like structures that play sounds when turned and feature shifting displays of light and color. The Urban Conga Principal Ryan Swanson says the gyroscopes are designed so people can play music together.
“Each one is actually a different instrument…” he says. “You can rotate it fully and kind of begin to play different kinds of full melodies. It creates that kind of connection with other people in the space.”
The center of each gyroscope features a dichroic film that reflects sunlight throughout the daytime and refracts light at dusk, which Swanson says creates different effects.
“It’s a great kind of thing to see both during different both day and the night, you get different experiences,” he says.
Polk said “Shape Your World” with Optik invites people to reflect on their roles within the world and reminds them they have control within those roles.
“If you want your ‘world’ to be in a different position, you can move that gyroscope, and it will react to your manipulation of it,” he says. “You are metaphorically shaping your world based on what you think.”
To complement the experience, Lumen Detroit is offering themed cocktails and mocktails.
The installation is part of Detroit Month of Design, a festival throughout the month of September that celebrates creativity in Detroit and its designation as the only UNESCO City of Design in the United States. With a series of exhibitions, installations, workshops and more, it features 95 events displaying work from more than 500 creatives.
Swanson said Optik is about play, environment and community.
“It’s about utilizing play to spark spontaneous connections within our public spaces,” he said. “It’s about creating playful moments using sound and movement and light to really begin to bring people together in public space.”
‘Shape Your World’ featuring Optik
now through Oct. 3
Beacon Park
1901 Grand River Ave., Detroit.
For additional information, visit www.empoweringmichigan.com.
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