Lasers in art / Laser Art

Lasers in art / Laser Art

A laser is one form of light - the light that surrounds us pretty much everywhere. But due to its unique properties, laser light can be extremely vivid, very sharp, distinct and impressive if wanted - as much as it can be touched and felt. Or mellow and nearly impossible to grasp and comprehend. It's up to an artist how he uses it.

Laser colours are pure, beautiful and deeply saturated; the laser light can transmit energy, feelings and thoughts. Its density and looks evoke a totally unrealistic yet very natural feel at the same time - two opposites of this world. Laser light is an art within itself.

And so, it is not surprising that there is an increasing number of artists and laser artists out there exploring what's possible with lasers in conjunction with other art media, objects, spaces and ideas.

Green laser line art 1 Green laser line art 2


Using modern laser display projectors or laser modules as the light source for art orientated projects can be very effective. The latest control systems offer a comprehensive range of features that allow users to control the laser beams precisely as they like, want and need.

An artist could utilise virtually every laser display projector from our extensive range for their artistic project, whether it is a large scale projection, laser mapping, light sculpture or maybe an indoor space fragmentation. There are no other limits than your imagination to what can be done with lasers when creating and performing arts.

The following examples show a handful of art projects where lasers were used successfully. For most of these laser art projects, artists used full-colour scanning laser display systems such as Clubmax, Atom or Spectrum. But sometimes, as shown in the 1st example, single-beam static green laser modules did the trick.

Portal - Toxteth Reservoir, UK
16x 1W 520nm laser modules [supplied by Kvant Lasers UK]

Inside the cavernous Toxteth Reservoir, laser light beams cross and stretch from one end to the other, flickering in the dark. Rita McBride's large-scale installation 'Portal' is a passageway comprised of exotic matter that does not follow the known laws of physics; it bends time and space and allows instantaneous travel to the far reaches of the unknown. The 'Portal' is a tunnel through space-time that creates an escape from the present and past to an alternative future.

Rita McBride: Portal from Liverpool Biennial on Vimeo. Laser modules supplied by Kvant Lasers UK Limited.

 

Coordinated Meteorite [by Asot Haas]
The project is created by researching the energy itself as site-specific in a given area. Energy is simulated in a visual form while it is also a light object that strengthens the impression of its radiation. What is more important, what comes to us on the Earth or what is leaving us? The subject is made up of 400 acrylic optical plates. In its very nature, each of the plates can carry a message, like a poem or a DNA code...

 

Laser art with heart
The artist illuminated the heart with a static red laser beam coming out from the KVANT laser module at the bottom. Upon hitting the internal material structure, the beam is dispersed within the object.

Red laser art illuminated heart

 

An abstract amplification of one of the myths about this 14th-century Klarisiek gothic church.

Laser art in church - red and blue lasers

 

Water blooms - the combination of water jets and laser light resulted in quite a spectacular display. Fourteen laser display projectors were used to cover the grounds of the central Bratislava city park.

Art with water jets and lasers 1

Art with water jets and lasers 1

 

An artist created this myth supporting sculpture with a green laser and set of bounce mirrors.

Green laser sculpture

Laser sculpture art

 

Laser projection of quite a complex ornament. The artist used several scanning laser light systems to cover the complexity of the image, resulting in precise high-luminosity graphics.

Laser art ornament laser projection high luminosity

 

Laser Harp uses laser beams as strings, where the artist can assign each string with a command. Users then can trigger that command by touching the string, or in fact, laser beam.

Laser art with a laser harp

 

Laser art by Zora Palova

Laser art by Zora Palova

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