Surrounded by hundreds of LED light strips, Magenta Field hits play from a computer in their Brooklyn studio. The lights glow, sparkle and pulse, all perfectly coordinated with an epic soundtrack the artists created themselves. When it's ready, the art installation will take the form of a lumious tunnel, inviting people in for an incredible 10-minute experience of light, sound and movement.
Magenta Field is a new venture for Brooklyn-based artists Chris Lunney and Kat Brice. Their latest art piece, The Portal to Flatland, is being presented at the Panorama Music Festival in New York City, July 27-29.
This is the third year HP has sponsored The Lab, an interactive experience at Panorama that combines art, design and technology produced by New York City artists. The artists featured in the lab use HP Z Workstation technology to power their art. The Lab’s principal feature is The Dome, a 70-foot 360-degree bubble, where festival-goers will be able to watch the short film “Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions” projected onto the inside of the dome itself.
HP caught up with Magenta Field in their studio before they set up their installation at Panorama.
How did you two meet?
Kat Brice: We met at the New School in 2012. I was doing my final semester on exchange for my master’s of architecture and Chris was studying design technology at Parsons. We met in a class called Light, Space and Art.
Where did the name Magenta Field come from?
KB: Magenta is one of those colors that, for me, has always held a specific place in my heart, because when I was 8 years old I wrote a poem. It’s the only poem I’ve ever written. It was quite raunchy for an 8-year-old, but it was about the color magenta. It goes: ‘Magenta, magenta, I’m holding you tight, for you are my lover on a hot summer’s night.’