View of the oceans

During the day, they are translucent white, at night they are blue and shimmer in black light: an entire swarm of jellyfish, made of transparent Vivak^®  plastic sheets, hovers just over two metres above the Oker river.

The artwork is the first of 13 temporary and five permanent installations on the Lichtparcours light trail all around the historic centre of Braunschweig.

In her work, IAK student Alma Barwitzky addresses the change in the world’s oceans as a habitat. Due to climate change and overfishing, jellyfish are proliferating at an explosive rate, while corals are dying. Viewers’ minds are transported to the high seas, where they look at the jellyfish from an underwater perspective. Only the reflections of the swarm can be seen in the Oker.

From a polyester sheet to a work of art

“West auf Nordwest” is a project of the Institute of Architecture Related Arts (IAK) at the Technical University of Braunschweig. Barwitzky worked on her design together with artists Sina Heffner and Bernd Schulz, both teachers at IAK. This also included selecting the appropriate material. Ultimately, they approached Exolon Group, who were happy to support the ambitious project. “We have been able to experiment extensively and are fascinated by the possibilities the material offers us,” was the conclusion after the successful construction of the first prototypes. The material’s simple processing was therefore impressive.

In total, Exolon Group provided around 70 Vivak^® sheets in thicknesses of 2 and 3 millimetres for the production of the jellyfish. These were thermoformed into bodies of different sizes and also cut into strips.

The lightweight material enables the art to be suspended on thin wires. Using black light, the objects light up from the inside and seem to float weightlessly above the river, creating the perfect illusion of the sea.

The Lichtparcours in Braunschweig is open to visitors until 6 October 2024. For more information, visit www.lichtparcours.de.