Resonant Lightscapes Spatial embodiment of light and sound

Building on the success of Mirrored Lightscapes at London Design Festival 2025, Yael Erel, Gadi Sassoon, and Avner Ben Natan present Resonant Lightscapes: a spatial experience of embodied light and sound sculptures, curated by Alisa Lisovskaia. The artists weave a visual, sonic, and kinetic feedback loop that transforms the experience of Roca Gallery, inviting visitors to slowly observe their own presence in the biomimetic architecture of the space designed by Zaha Hadid. The artworks mix analogue light reflections, analogue sound, robotics, audiovisual feedback loops, and mechanical resonance to alter perceptions of time, flow, and movement. The collaborative installation in the gallery space is a feedback loop of resonance between light and sound waves: Erel and Ben Natan project fragments of light on spinning, etched metal reflectors that create uncannily organic patterns on the curved gallery walls, while Sassoon’s sound installation provides a slow reactive underscore built from tape loops of his instrumental performances; these elements combine in the kinetic layer, affecting the motion of the physical sculptures, a mechanical resonance at the centre of the audiovisual immersion. Gadi Sassoon - Kaleidoptera Modular robotics sculpture In Kaleidoptera, Gadi Sassoon researches a language of embodied emotion through bespoke modular robotics. When machines mirror our cognition, what is the threshold that makes us project intention, emotion, or even a persona into inanimate objects? Can a structure’s form and gesture, in motion or at rest, affect our perception of ourselves, our spaces, and our peers? Sassoon’s “Kaleidoptera” modules are 3D printed and infinitely replicable, designed and controlled via the artist’s bespoke agentic system 555n. The technology was developed in partnership with roboticist Rob Knight. Yael Erel - Light Pebbles Light Object, 2022 Light pebbles project dynamic lightscapes by translating the embossed topography of a revolving reflector into light patterns. Each pebble casts white light onto a revolving augmented mirror disc. As light reflects off the sculpted specular discs, it transcribes the information embedded on it into light spaces that reveal the reflectors’ micro-topographies, different reflector geometries generate different light patterns. The pebble-like object is in dialogue with Zaha Hadid’s flowing design of the ROCA gallery. Developed with Avner Ben Natan and RPI research students and fabrication labs. Sculpting Reflections is a short film by Chalkley Calderwood and Yael Erel, giving insight into how Erel uses light and reflection as a medium to create lightscapes and generate the lighting components used in the Resonant Lightscapes exhibition at ROCA Gallery. Roca London Gallery, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, is a cultural and architectural hub in London that hosts exhibitions, talks, installations, and events exploring design, architecture, sustainability, and innovation. Resonant Lightscapes: Yael Erel Avner Ben Natan and Gadi Sassoon Curation: Alisa Lisovskaia Light Design: Yael Erel, Avner Ben Natan, supported by Carla Leitao and Nic Roscioli-Barran Sound and robotics installations: Gadi Sassoon Audio-Reactive Mechanics: Tom Fox RPI Research Students: Alex Fuss, Julian Pasquale, Ethan Aspiras, Scott Sigmund, Javier Torres, Cooper Myer, Eileen Dong, Gunnar Thuss, Owen Lawler Venue: Roca Gallery - gallery manager Marija Bukal