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nike savvas

anthem

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Nike Savvas's light installation Anthem was suggestive of a 'personal anthem'. The three-dimensionality of the work enveloped the viewer, triggering a chain reaction of thoughts, mental images and memories that flickered like the dynamic lighting effects within the exhibition space. The work operated similarly to a song, where one is taken on a sentimental journey, riding waves of individually subjective memories and dreams-cerebral and temporal images like a succession of momentary flashes, lingering no longer than the light projections which covered the walls, ceiling and floor. In Anthem, Savvas used the space as her ephemeral canvas, employing a programmable lighting system (set up as in a night club, and at times dangerously similar in ambience) to project bright discs of coloured light on chosen points around the gallery. Smaller bubbles of light drifted around the room as a disco mirrorball spun silently from the ceiling, creating a subliminal atmosphere of dreamy euphoria. On first impressions, the feeling was like walking into a nearly empty night club, except there was no music (unless it was the music heard in one's own head). Light fell on the body as one moved through the installation, engendering a strong sense of self-awareness, even as one resisted the temptation to break into dance. Coloured spotlights cast a shadow of the lighting equipment rigged around the ceiling and thus drew attention to the theatricality of the set-up-a kind of stage-show where the viewer was his/her own 'star'. The fact that this was a public art gallery, and perhaps the uncomfortable memory of being the only one on the dance floor, were the only things which prevented you shaking your booty. The beauty of Anthem however lay