PLAY WITH THE LIGHTS
Oulu, Finland 2025
This mural is based on a simple mechanism: two chromatic layers —red and blue— that are revealed or concealed depending on the light filter used. Under red light, the red disappears; under blue light, the blue vanishes. In natural light, both layers become visible at once, exposing the coexistence of realities that are usually presented separately.
The work is conceived as an interactive experience: the spotlights are connected to movable sockets, and viewers can switch them on and off or redirect them at will. The piece is not meant to be observed in a fixed state, but to be activated by those who interact with it. Each person generates a different composition and, in doing so, decides which layer dominates and which one remains hidden.
The dialogue between surface and structure is amplified by the context: an abandoned office building, now used as a large hall, which is scheduled for demolition. In architecture, a load-bearing structure is the set of elements —walls, beams, columns— that form the skeleton of a building and support its weight. This mural becomes a kind of load-bearing wall: not in a physical sense, but as a wall that carries the conceptual weight of the visible and the invisible, permanence and disappearance.
The choice of colors is deliberate. Red and blue, often used in logos for their high visual impact, also evoke the language of the anaglyph. In this case, the technique is inverted: instead of creating an illusion of depth, the filters reveal how each color builds a partial version of reality.
The ephemeral nature of the work mirrors the building itself: just as the offices and their structure will vanish, the mural will disappear with them. What is visible today —and what remains hidden— belongs to a fleeting present, carried by a structure destined to collapse.