STAR/BUTTERWORTH. Photo by Ronaldas Buozis. All images courtesy of the artist, shared with permissionBeams of Light Lance Monumental Architecture in Jun Ongs Astral InstallationsDecember 30, 2024ArtDesignKate MothesIn artist Jun Ongs luminous installations, rays of light pierce through concrete, stone, and steel. In his ongoing Stars series features LED strips that intersect with the human-built environment in monumental, illuminated geometries.Ongs latest piece, HALO, relies on an existing architectural structure to provide a site-specific framework. Beams of light appear to permeate stone and concrete, simultaneously contained by the buildings yet impervious to their solidity.HALO. Photo by YueJin Art MuseumExploring themes of time and space, HALO radiates from within the Xiu De Bai Pavilion, a former Buddhist temple in Yan Shui, Tainan, Taiwan. Built in 1919, the temple has history tracing back to the Qing dynasty and was pivotal in supporting the community, Ong says.Light in Buddhism is an important metaphor for enlightenmentthe awakening or the understanding of truth, says a statement from YueJin Art Museum. Just as Buddha, in addition to sacred figures in other religions, is often portrayed with a bright aura or halo around the head or body, Ong envisions the burst of light as a means of illuminating our surroundings and our past.HALO builds upon a work titled STAR/BUTTERWORTH, which he installed in Penang, Malaysia, in 2015. The artist was inspired by the idiosyncratic designs of Buckminster Fuller, like his geodesic domes, and M.C. Eschers optical illusions. He says, Using only two materialstensile steel cables and LED stripsI manipulated light and architecture to create a colossal object that seemingly burst out of the building like a glitch in time.Detail of HALOFor HALO, Ong created a starburst form that can also be interpreted as a ring of light, reimagining a 2022 piece called STAR/KL, which he installed in brutalist interior in Kuala Lumpur. I hope that the Star series continues to emerge across different cities and cultures and possibly also in interesting terrains, like caves, the desert, or even forests, Ong says.Commissioned byfor the 2024 Yuejin Art Museum Festival, HALO remains on view through February 16. If youre in The Netherlands, you can also see Ongs piece POLARIS on view as part of the Amsterdam Light Festival through January 19. Find more on the artists website and Instagram.Detail of STAR/BUTTERWORTH. Photo by Ronaldas BuozisPOLARISDetail of HALOHALO. Photo by YueJin Art MuseumPOLARIS. Photo by Merce WouthuysenDetail of STAR/BUTTERWORTH. Photo by Ronaldas BuozisDetail of HALO. Photo by YueJin Art MuseumNext article