Overview
Combining light and geometric transformations lies at the heart of our creative practice. These artworks start as square grids of lights facing one another. Drinking straws are used to attach each of the points of the two grids to one another. The resulting form is a cube with lights on two faces, joined by an array of light diffusing straws. The real magic happens when the grids are deformed. Pulling on the opposing corners of the grids causes the square-shaped polygonal mesh to become diamond-shaped. The resulting volume becomes helical and the pattern can be continued.
This group of artworks, initially created in 2017 and elaborated in 2018 with the large-scale permanent Helix artwork for Holland America Line, is based on opposing surfaces of lights. To scale the work up while maintaining its aesthetic integrity, Krugman Studio created a design with no wiring visible and almost no visible hardware. The structure was CNC bent and thousands of small brass fittings were hand-machined and fitted. Link to Helix cruise ship project.
In 2023, Krugman Studio created Capillary Helix for Montefiore's Einstein Advanced Care at Hudson Yards. The sculpture utilizing a consistent spiral shape by restricting the number of different elements used. A diagrid of LED mesh is used on either face of the mesh panels. All of the straws are the same length. As the grid distends, hyperbolic surfaces mirror one another, restricted by the grid and the single straw length. The LEDs on either side of the mesh surfaces pivot to allow the overall twist of the form.
A link to the full page for this project can be found here: Capillary Helix
Adding cut straws to the mesh allows for vector fields to be further emphasized. The straws start at normal to the toroidal quad mesh comprised by the LEDs. This type of toroidal mesh draws allusion to Tokamak geometries and magnetic field vectors.
