Duality, 2006

Tokyo, Japan

Duality is a public art installation created for an office site in the centre of Tokyo. The installation is integrated into a covered walkway linking an underground station to adjacent residential and office complexes. It is a place of transit bordered by a large water basin, an artificial pond. This specific spatial situation provided a springboard for the concept. The interplay of ‘solid’ (path) and ‘liquid’ (water) is expanded by virtual waves of light on the walkway and real waves in the water.

White monochrome LED panels are installed in the walkway on an area measuring 4 x 4 metres and covered with sandblasted opalescent glass. Load cells under the glass tiles measure the position and force of each footstep, triggering corresponding virtual ripples on the LED panel. When these ripples of light hit the edge of the pond, mechanical actuators seamlessly forward these patterns as physical waves in the water.

The reactive installation blends into the physical space, becoming one with it. Through its responsiveness Duality communicates on an intuitive level to pedestrians, changes their everyday experience, and makes them identify with the space.