Stunning light installation ‘Shall We Dance’

Last Wednesday, December 18, 2019, the highest artwork of The Netherlands ‘Shall We Dance’ has become a shining icon of business park Keppelseweg in Doetinchem. The dancing electricity tower – 48.75 meters LED neon flex in the colours blue and red – reminds us of the beauty of the old electricity towers and the dynamics of the energy transition. The changing energy landscape has placed the dancing electricity tower in a different context.The stunning light installation, designed by light artist Wouter Brave and by designer Floris Schoonderbeek, has given the rural city of Doetinchem a metropolitan character. In 2007 conceived by Schoonderbeek as an ode to the electricity towers and to give a positive boost to their necessary presence. At the end of 2019, no longer surrounded by the old electricity towers, it has become a metaphor for the energy transition: the windmills are coming, the electricity towers are going.

The light installation by Brave and Schoonderbeek gives a new impulse to the artwork and its surroundings. To accentuate both its dynamic shape and the transparency of the construction, the light comes from within the tower. The spots are placed “close to the skin” on the inside of the structure. This makes the dancing tower glow and strengthens its three-dimensional shape. In addition, it emphasizes the geometric structure of the construction.Warm white light has been chosen for a harmonious and pleasant contrast with the dark environment. Given the height of the mast (37meters), it was necessary to install the light on two levels: just above the foot and at the bend in the body.

To reinforce the dynamic character of the artwork, a number of expressive lines of the work – the arms, the head, the upper body – are partially accentuated with blue and red LED neon. Light artist Wouter Brave: “Shall We Dance? is the title of the artwork. If you ask someone to dance, casual clothes are not appropriate, a party outfit is desired. ”

The blue and red colours symbolize the dancing and the electrical character of the artwork as if the sparks are bursting out of it.