Swarovski Veil „Heaven is a place on earth“

This sophisticated and fantastic veil has been completed in 2008 for the Swarovski works in Wattens, Austria. The Veil transforms the Swarovskistraße in a bright boulevard of constant magical change. The new pathway marked by the billowing veiled curtain becomes a new place of poetic play; of light and shade; of an iridescent dalliance of colors and of amazingly magical moments of expression and transformation. During the day, rays of sun and passing clouds toy with the new space, creating a continual metamorphosis. Depending on how the sunlight meets the curtain and on the visual angle, the curtain emerges either as a dazzling, sparkling veil or vanishes completely from the eye. The incessant transformation of the curtain at daytime triggered by the sun and the clouds is emulated at nightfall by luminaria. A peaceful start, as if by magic, triggers an interaction of color with the hues of the sky. The intensity of the light adapts to the surrounding brightness; not glaring or vying for effects, but of a harmonizing and soothing quality. The lighting dims. We gently draw the curtain. The silent movie starts and follows a virtual script composed of an overture, calming shades, quick and quiet rhythms. The veiled curtain forms the groundwork of the installation. The soft change of color and lighting makes the curtain radiate like a crystal, with an opulence of hues ranging from mythical blue to a clear, bright white. Like all other design elements, the light conveys an activating seeing. Like creatures of the light and natural phenomena, the statures rejoice in merry games. The veil is made of a corrosion- and weather-resistant stainless steel mesh. It gives rise to a varied play of light and embodies a never-before seen materialness, held in place by a 10-meter high steel stringer. A group of illuminated pads creates a seating arrangement and doubles as the boundary to what lies beyond… During the day, rays of sun and traveling clouds revel in this space, triggering a constant change. When night falls, a spectacle takes place that lives in harmony with the hues of the sky. This setting forms the groundwork for a permanent and enchanting transformation.