Ommatidium


2015

 
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Made from a canopy of 1,500 glass crystal lenses, the Ommatidium is a collaboration between Samuel Wilkinson and world-leading neuroscientist Beau Lotto.

It is intended to act as a new site-specific sculptural icon for Hoxton. At night the canopy is powered by low energy lights that change the installation into a gleaming beacon on Old Street.

Drawing a parallel between the fragmented nature of the digital world, with its kaleidoscope of different perspectives, and the refractive behaviour of prisms, the Ommatidium’s giant, multifaceted lens canopy turns sunlight into an ever-changing display of rainbows on the pavement below.