TEN: BEYOND THE BEETLE

LIVING THE HORIZON

By Ximena Muñoz

LIVING THE HORIZON

 

In the installation ‘Living the Horizon’, lighting designer Ximena Muñoz combines moving images with suspended neonLED lighting. Interpreting the meeting of the Beetle’s seat and the backrest as the line of the horizon, a four meter video projection shows the changing horizon in the Pacific Ocean over a period from March to November 2022, while curved light interacts with the projection and introduces a note of intimacy to the experience.

“The horizon is a visual point that refers us to the place where heaven and earth meet. However, these never actually touch: Earth and sky are spaces that are above one another. We can try to reach the horizon, but it is always moving, always beyond, at an incalculable distance. It shows us an edge, a limit that is always dynamic, infinite. It is where the day begins and ends; it shows us the passage of time, of the seasons.

 

The horizon attracts us as a place where everything begins and everything ends, from where we see the approaching clouds coming, warning us that the weather will change. There is an up and down, that is clear. The sky is above, the land and the sea are below. But is it really the horizon that unites them? I can try to reach it all my life, but the horizon always moves beyond, where we can never reach.

 

The Beetle Chair for me is like the top and the bottom of the horizon that come together in an infinite space. There are two shells that open to show us an organic, natural space. The point where the two shells meet is for me like the infinite horizon, which goes beyond human vision.”

 

– Ximena Muñoz

XIMENA MUÑOZ

LIGHTING DESIGNER, CHILE

 

Designer, architect and educator Ximena Muñoz is the founder of Ciluz, a research center focusing on light and energy. From there, she has brought the community of Spanish-speaking lighting designers closer together through courses, publications, seminars, and interviews from a broad range of perspectives.

“The inspiration for Ximena Muñoz’s project rests in the most ergonomically important part of the Beetle Chair: between seat and backrest. The gentle curve that makes the shell of the seat so comfortable brings with it a new horizon. The imaginary line marking the border between sky and ocean underpins a complex installation in which video art and lighting design merge, enabling viewers to lose themselves in the contemplation of nature.”

 

- Marco Sammicheli, curator, TEN: Beyond the Beetle

 
 

TEN: BEYOND THE BEETLE


GUBI SALONE 2023’s landmark exhibition showcases 10 creative responses to a modern design icon.