Carsten Nicolai Lights up World’s Seventh Tallest Building During Art Basel in Hong Kong

Carsten Nicolai, a (alpha) pulse (2014) Courtesy Art Basel in Hong Kong

For three nights (May 15-17th) Berlin-based artist Carsten Nicolai will light up Hong Kong with what might be the world’s largest-ever work of contemporary art. At 484 meters (1,588 feet) tall, a (alpha) pulse (2014) will take up the entire façade of Hong Kong’s tallest building, the International Commerce Centre, also the world’s seventh tallest. Commissioned by Art Basel for its Hong Kong fair, a (alpha) pulse features a series of light patterns intended to play on one’s mood and various other sub-conscious metrics. It will also be accompanied by an app, naturally, which will provide an accompanying audio track for the installation as well as the possibility of viewing it remotely.

The latter feature may come in handy. While the fair says the work will be easily viewable from Hong Kong’s Tamar Park, Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park, and various balconies of the International Finance Centre, considering the city’s status as the world’s most light-polluted locale, those farther afield might not be able to separate Nicolai’s pulses of light from those of the metropolis at large.

Alexander Forbes


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