BIOLUMEN, A DAZZLING WORLD PREMIERE IN MISSISSAUGA, CANADA 

The latest addition to our catalog, Biolumen by Radha Chaddah and RAW Design, made its international premiere in Mississauga, Ontario on November 5 at the opening of Winter Magic 2023.

Our Director of Development and Touring, Josée Guérette, had the honor of being present: “The experience is stunning and the kids are highly enthusiastic about it!” 

 

© Adam Pulicicchio, Mississauga, 2023

Genesis of the project  

The installation Biolumen had the honor of winning the call for projects orchestrated by three Canadian co-production partners: the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership de Montréal, the City of Mississauga, and the City of Shawinigan. The call for projects reflects the three organizations’ shared vision of public space as a territory to be explored by artists and the general public alike. The project gives creators the opportunity to design and present a large-scale interactive public installation. 

 

Artistic inspiration and intention 

Biolumen was inspired by Radiolaria, which are tiny single celled animals. Their name means ‘small sunbeam.’ Ocean floors are thick with their astonishingly beautiful skeletons, made from silica. Radiolaria live symbiotically with algae who feed them with sugars they make from sunlight. Some Radiolaria are bioluminescent because of the bacteria that live within them.

The visual and sonic harmonies created by this installation are a tribute to symbiosis, and the ideal of humans living in balance with nature.

 – Radha Chaddah, Biolumen’s creator, visual artist and scientist

 

© Adam Pulicicchio, Mississauga, 2023

 

A wonderful convergence of art and science  

Biolumen was born of the alliance between Radha Chaddah, a visual artist and scientist, and RAW Design, an architecture firm.  

Radha creates art about invisible realities using light as her primary means of expression. Her work examines the interconnectedness of our material reality, from the micro to the macro. In the laboratory, Radha uses the tools of scientific research to prepare, explore and image fragments of nature.  

RAW Design was recognized as Ontario’s best emerging architecture firm in 2009. The talents that make up this organization conceptualize projects as a collective, with the help of their design expertise and a sensitivity for listening to specifications.  

This Ontario union of urban thinking and natural sensibility has led to the creation of the ocean of light: Biolumen. 

 

Reconnect with the natural world through an interactive experience where light, sound and texture combine to create a space where art, science and nature merge.   

 

© Tori Lambermont, Mississauga, 2023

 

More information 

Would you like to have in Biolumen by Radha Chaddah and Raw Design in your public space? 
Contact us at info@qdsinternational.com  

 

CREDITS

Creation: Radha Chaddah 

Design: RAW Design 

Fabrication: Jack World 

Sound design: Jaclyn Blumas 

Co-production: Quartier des Spectacles Partnership, The city of Mississauga and Culture Shawinigan 

Distribution: QDSinternational 

Executive Production, Touring: Jack World