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Secrets of the Sun in Los Angeles PeterErskine Secrets of the Sun: Millennial Meditations (S.O.S.) is a work of art with a social and political mission to increase awareness of our relationship with the sun and solar radiation. Scheduled for presentation in August through October 1995 at downtown Los Angeles's historic Union Station, this 23,000-sq-ft, site-specific installation is designed to aesthetically and intellectually engage audiences of all ages and ethnicities. Beyond its significance as an arts installation, S.O.S. has a two-fold purpose: to inform a broad and diverse community about the coexisting beauty and dangers of solar radiation, and to instill awareness of each person's responsibility and opportunity to provide solutions to local and global environmental problems. Employing a heliostat solar tracking mirror, S.O.S. will use the sun, 93,000,000 miles away, as a medium. Intercepted some 8 min after its departure by the heliostat on the ground, a reflected solar beam will pour into the recesses of a darkened Union Station, where technology will create a molten solar spectrum. S.O.S. transforms "ordinary" sunlight into extraordinary colors through prisms (Fig. 5) and directs that light into spaces and onto the spectator. The aim is to make visitors experience the uncanny power of visible and invisible solar radiation—a power that humankind has abused so terribly in recent times, bringing about global warming and ozone depletion. The project demonstrates in practical terms how our abuse of our environment has made the sun into a potential enemy. S.O.S. is designed to attract viewers through the universal appeal associated with the rainbow. Like all life on earth, Peter Erskine (artist), 1100 Palms Boulevard, Venice, CA 90291, U.S.A. Received 27 October 1994. Manuscript solicited byJürgen Claus. Fig. 5. Prisms refracting light in Peter Erskine's studio in Venice, California. The artist uses the sun as medium in his installation Secrets ofthe Sun: Millenial Meditations (S.O.S.). S.O.S. is 100% solar powered. The installation challenges viewers to create solar solutions to environmental problems and make the new millennium the age of the sun. When visitors arrive at Union Station, they will become participants in S.O.S. Upon entering the exhibition , each viewer signs a damage waiver saying that he or she recognizes the helpful and harmful effects of solar radiation and acknowledges the role his or her lifestyle plays in disrupting global ecology. The viewer then dons a "protective" white suit. This act draws each viewer into the piece both symbolically and literally, since the reflective white suit transforms the body into a canvas. The experience is enhanced by an interactive sound installation that combines live and recorded environmental sound. Some of the sound is soothing, some jarring, all is evocative. One element is the "Mass for Endangered Species ," a sample that juxtaposes a Palestrina requiem mass with a reading of the official list of endangered mammals and birds. Integral to the Los Angeles presentation will be a series of multicultural art and environment workshops created to enhance environmental awareness among local youth. I am working with the city of Los Angeles through its Cultural Affairs Department to design a multifaceted program to be implemented in ethnically diverse areas of the city, including Hispanic, AfricanAmerican , Asian and Anglo-Saxon neighborhoods. Working hands-on with mirrors and solar prisms, children and teens will explore the effects of the sun on their environment. In addition, they will learn about the various sun mythologies of their traditional cultures and will also create their own urban myths about the sun and the rainbow. SolArt Global Network 147 ...

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