HALID - SPIER
480 x 1309 x 200 cm
Scaffolding, Wood, Metal halide floodlights, computer program
Spier Light Art [→], Stellenbosch, South Africa
2017 - 2025

HALID consists of six floodlights containing high-pressure discharge lamps (metal halide). They illuminate evenly one wall which stands in strong contrast to the surrounding landscape. According to a phasing score, one or more of the spotlights turn off, creating “holes” along the illuminated wall, like a flaw in a system. The installation is reminiscent of border surveillance strategies and freight zone lighting. The floodlights used in the installation are used in certain spaces to control or limit access. In HALID, they are used as a metaphor; the ones that go out leave a gap, which suggests a passageway, or are the faulty elements of a system that we want to make secure. Questioning mankind's ability to build tools that enable it to reign over the living, HALID invites to reflect on the position of the powerful over the vulnerable, on its capacity to organise itself in order to solidify its supremacist will over people and nature. Consequently to provide itself with structures and institutions to accomplish it. In other words, solidifying the laws and mechanisms of exclusion.

Curators : Vaughn Sadie [→], Charles Maisles, Lightplace [→]
Technical direction: Ryaaz Payne
Construction team: Bernito Smith, Botae.u, Tashreeq Achmad [→]
Support: Nexus Scaffolding : Heinrich Calitz, Pro Helvetia Joahnnesburg [→]
Photography: Gerhardt Coetzee [→], Florian Bach