Luminaire

Description: Luminaire, the permanent media art installations, created by artist Heather Dew Oaksen, incorporates projected video imagery into three significant areas of the renovated North East Branch of the Seattle Public Library. The projections act as visual metaphors for the areas; functions. They are referred to as: 1) Gather: how the neighborhood sees and is seen by others; 2) Move: the axis which draws patrons through the space in haptic experience; and 3) Discover: an exploratory space that stimulates curiosity. Images appropriate to each area loop automatically for extended play. A total of 15 images, rotating three-at-a-time to coincide with seasonal changes, will take over a year to experience as an entire set.

Artist Statement: I strive to understand the relationship between the sender and the receiver—both psychologically and in physical space. My process usually begins with words from those I’ve interviewed: immigrants about “sense of place,” children using augmented communication devices, young men incarcerated in state juvenile facilities, and more recently, from library patrons. From that foundation, visual and aural imagery, and presentation structure develops. I value surprise, and mystery—aiming to create an abstract image or environment that one cannot experience without technological support such as extreme close up view, unexpected scale or the manipulation of time, light, point of view or perspective. 

Location: Northeast Branch Library, 6801 35th Avenue Northeast, Seattle WA 98115 (indoors)