Five Shylight sculptures have now become part of the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt’s permanent collection, transforming its central hall.
The Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, one of the oldest public museums in Germany, features an impressive collection of art and natural history. Commissioned specifically for the space, Shylight was conceived as a dialogue with the museum’s collection. The kinetic light sculptures, inspired by the natural phenomenon of nyctinasty – the way certain flowers open and close as a self-defense mechanism – echo the rhythms and patterns of the natural world preserved within the museum.
Through technology and movement, Shylight bridges past and present, art and nature, the man-made and the natural. The work invites visitors to pause, look upward, and experience the neo-classical architecture of the museum not only as a place of knowledge, but also as a place of wonder and connection.
Photos by Dennis Haustein, courtesy of the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt.
