SKYLUM/ European Council, Justus Lipsius Building, Brussels, Irish Presidency and
Nuit Blanche, CBC, Toronto, Canada, 2012/13
SKYLUM/ An interactive installation for Justus Lipsius Council Building, Brussels.
and in CPC Toronto for Nuit Blanche, Toronto, Canada 2012/13
SKYLUM is an interactive, site-responsive installation developed for the Justus Lipsius Council Building in Brussels but presented first in the atrium at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre (CPC) in Toronto as part of Nuit Blanche 2012/13. The work takes the form of a fifteen-meter-long inflatable vessel suspended within the architectural space, functioning simultaneously as sculpture, environment and responsive systems.
At the core of SKYLUM is an intelligent lighting and multi-layered sound system embedded within the inflatable structure. This system responds dynamically to the movement and proximity of visitors below. Four camera-based motion detectors were positioned around the installation, continuously tracking audience movement within the atrium space. The collected data was processed in real time, collating patterns of motion and translating them into an evolving composition of light and sound. These outputs were derived from a library of pre-recorded sound samples, enabling each interaction to generate a unique and non-repeating audiovisual sequence.
The installation transformed the atrium into a performative field in which visitors became active participants rather than passive spectators. As people moved through the space, their presence directly shaped the atmosphere of the work, encouraging awareness of bodily movement, spatial relationships, and collective behaviour. The inflatable structure responded like a living organism—subtly shifting, glowing, and resonating—blurring distinctions between architecture, sculpture, and environment.
SKYLUM brings together elements of inhabitation, performance and monumentality to expand the dialogue between the natural world and the human-made environment. Its scale and materiality reference architectural and biological forms, while its responsiveness evokes organic systems such as breathing, circulation, and resonance. The theatrical qualities of the work heightened sensory engagement, drawing attention to the threshold between the interior and exterior, the human and the structure, control and chance.
By extending and destabilising these boundaries, SKYLUM evokes ephemerality and transience, reflecting on the ways humans interact with and influence their surroundings. The installation foregrounds the idea that space is not fixed but continuously shaped through movement, presence, and interaction—an experience that is both collective and deeply personal.
Computer programmer and software designer Erik Kearney.
