Portfolios Archive - Page 4 of 13

The Aurora

THE AURORA, 2021

MSP International Airport, Terminal 1: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Existing at the intersection of art and technology, The Aurora is a 29-foot-tall, 720-pound experiential sculpture in which both human interaction and weather patterns create swirling displays of color and light. The title references the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights—naturally occurring light phenomena visible in the northern sky during the fall and winter months. Inspired by the beauty and complexity of these organic light forms, Jen Lewin programmed The Aurora to change color based on the live weather in Minneapolis. Below the sculpture, eight interactive platforms respond to touch, encouraging visitors to actively participate in an ever-changing composition. Uniting nature, humanity, and technology, Lewin’s work underscores the dynamic interplay between people and the environment.

The Aurora features hundreds of color palettes and more than 10,000 interactive LEDs programmed to reflect the shifting seasons and real-time weather conditions in Minneapolis. The sculpture’s form consists of 23,000 aluminum rings shaped into a delicate, honeycomb-like structure that evokes the solar wind patterns that create the Aurora Borealis in nature. Attached to the frame are 2,667 hand-blown glass bulbs, each containing three light-emitting diodes that bring the piece to life with movement and illumination.

Completed in 2021, The Aurora was jointly commissioned by the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) and the Airport Foundation MSP. A 16-member Blue Ribbon Artist Selection Panel chose Lewin for the project in recognition of her extensive experience creating interactive new media sculptures that invite public participation and connection.

grants, awards & exhibitionS

2022

Gold Winner in Urban Design & Architecture Design Awards

2020

Public Art Commission, Permanent to MSP International Airport, Minneapolis, MN

Press

Star Tribune

MSP Press · Press Gallery

MSP to unveil new 2-story sculpture called The Aurora

Fox 9

MSP Press · Press Gallery

The Aurora (2021) by Jen Lewin is an experiential, 29-foot-tall glass and metal sculpture suspended through an oval opening between the ticketing and baggage claim levels in Terminal 1 of Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport. The twisting wave is composed of over 20,000 aluminum rings, holds approximately 1,900 hand-blown glass bulbs with embedded LEDs, and is programmed to change color in real time based on weather conditions in Minneapolis (e.g. cool blues and whites for colder weather, greens and yellows in spring, warmer tones in fall). Beneath the sculpture, an array of eight touch-responsive glass “lake” platforms—shaped like area lakes—translate footsteps or gestures into swirling light and color beneath one’s feet, creating a dialogue between the sculpture above and interactive ground surfaces below. The work marries art, environment, and human interaction, drawing inspiration from the natural aurora phenomena while anchoring the airport space with joy, movement, and connection.

Brooklyn Magazine

The Last OCean, 2022

Part of Have Art Will Travel: Temporary & Traveling Exhibitions

In 2022, The Last Ocean made its debut at Burning Man’s Black Rock City. This remarkable installation delves into the urgent issue of plastic pollution in our oceans, a warming planet, the depletion of natural resources, and the pressing need for transformative systemic change.

Comprised of traveling, temporary interactive platforms that span a vast landscape, the installation is brought to life by community engagement. Crafted from reclaimed ocean plastic, The Last Ocean creates an otherworldly ice field that mimics the geometric tessellations of Antarctica’s glaciers.

Throughout the day, the interactive platforms showcase the metamorphosis of reclaimed ocean plastic. And as night falls, The Last Ocean illuminates in a spectacular array of vibrant interactive light, captivating viewers with its stunning beauty and powerful message.

grants, awards & exhibitionS

2023

Vivid Sydney, Sydney, Australia

2022

Black Rock City Honorarium: Black Rock City, NV

2022

Detroit Design Week, Beacon Park, Detroit, MI

2022

Canal Convergence, Scottsdale, AZ

2022

San Francisco Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA

Press

Dezeen

Last Ocean · Press Gallery

ArtNet

Last Ocean · Press Gallery

Fast Company

Last Ocean · Press Gallery

Process and Inspiration

The Last Ocean was conceptualized as an interactive sculpture inspired directly by John Weller’s photographs and his urgent call to preserve Antarctica’s Ross Sea. From its earliest vision, the work required a complete rethinking of materials and process. Lewin and her team designed, invented, engineered, and fabricated the artwork entirely from collected and reclaimed ocean plastic trash. This approach demanded the reinvention of aspects of Lewin’s art practice while pushing the boundaries of plastic manufacturing. The Last Ocean is an expansive landscape of interactive platforms created from reclaimed ocean plastic, evocative of a luminescent ice field composed of geometric tessellations. The work not only seeks to inspire and educate, but also—through the use of reclaimed ocean plastic—to contribute to the recovery of our oceans and our planet.

Rethinking Public Art

The Last Ocean redefines public artwork as an interactive landscape. The intention behind this work is to inspire and educate. As stated by Eriksen M., Lebreton, et al.: “We estimate that at least 5.25 trillion plastic particles weighing 268,940 tons are currently floating at sea.” We believe that humanity must ultimately put an end to the appalling levels of single- or limited-use plastic production. Yet with hundreds of thousands of tons of plastic already in our oceans, it is essential to address the crisis on multiple fronts.

Transforming Communities

To make this work possible, Jen Lewin Studio closely collaborated with Ocean Plastic Technologies (OPT) in South Africa. OPT and Jen Lewin Studio worked together to re-engineer the circular plastic economy by finding new ways to recycle and repurpose ocean-bound plastic pollution. The Last Ocean was handmade from collected ocean and ocean-bound plastic trash gathered from coastal communities, which was then ground down and melted to create the artwork.

Pioneering New Technology

The creation of The Last Ocean was a multi-year journey that required our studio to entirely re-think our own fabrication processes. We hoped that this hands-on exploration would inspire other artists, designers, fabricators, and plastic manufacturers to reconsider their own direct role in the protection and conservation of our planet.

“There is no such thing as ‘away.’ When we throw anything away, it must go somewhere.” – Annie Leonard

From the kitchen table of Marjorie Rice

The shape and form of The Last Ocean was directly inspired by the Type 9 pentagonal tiling discovered by artist and mathematician Marjorie Rice. At the time of her discovery, there were only nine known pentagonal tilings, identified by mathematicians Karl Reinhardt, R. B. Kershner, and Richard James between 1918 and 1975.

In 1976, with no training in geometry beyond a general math course in high school, the 52-year-old Californian homemaker discovered four pentagonal tilings over the course of two years after reading a puzzle column on tessellations in Scientific American. Employing an elaborate symbolic system and hand-sketched studies, Rice developed her investigations, discovering these four new tessellating convex pentagons and nearly sixty additional never-before-seen tessellations—all in the spare moments she had at home when her husband and five children were at work and school.

After her discoveries, one additional pentagonal tiling was identified in 1985 by Rolf Stein, and the final pentagonal tiling was discovered in 2015 using computer algorithms (Mann/McLoud/Von Derau). To date, there are only fifteen total pentagonal tilings of the plane, a set confirmed complete in 2017 by Michaël Rao. Aside from the initial discovery by Karl Reinhardt, Marjorie Rice’s pentagons make up the largest portion of these tilings. The interactive platforms used to create The Last Ocean were fabricated in the shape of Rice’s Pentagonal Tiling “Type #9.”

Edison Octopus

EDISON OCTOPUS, 2024

Braze Headquarters: New York, New York

The Edison Octopus is a handcrafted sculpture inspired by the intelligence of octopuses and their elegant nature. Part of Jen Lewin’s Edison Series, this sculpture seamlessly merges contemporary LED technology and interactivity with the historical charm of the incandescent lightbulb invented by Thomas Edison. When the production of Edison bulbs ceased in the USA in 2012, Lewin began crafting custom hand-blown glass bulbs designed to utilize LED light, preserving the timeless aesthetics of classic design while embracing modern innovation.

The Edison Octopus is uniquely integrated with the Braze Edison Cloud, commissioned in 2020. Together, the sculptures respond dynamically to user interactions, creating a synchronized experience where their color palettes and lighting effects adapt and evolve in harmony.

A chromed laptop, designed to complement the steel exterior of the Edison Octopus, adds a whimsical touch, referencing an inside joke with the Braze CEO about the future of octopus online schooling.

Created by artist Jen Lewin and her team for the Braze office in New York City, the Edison Octopus is a celebration of art, technology, and humor.

Ekathimerini

Edison Drops

EDISON DROPS, 2021

Edison Drops are part of Jen Lewin’s Edison Series, a group of sculptures that merge contemporary LED technology and interactivity with the historical incandescent lightbulb invented by Thomas Edison. In 2012, Edison bulbs ceased to be produced in the USA, prompting Lewin to begin this series using hand-blown glass bulbs custom designed to use LED light.

Evoking ripples in water, Edison Drops consist of a cluster of three orbs that utilize low-voltage lasers bouncing from the sculpture to the ground, sensing the distance between people below and the work. As participants move beneath them, they can effectively shoot ripples of light upward into the sculpture depending on their proximity to the sensor.

The Edison Drops are created using an aluminum framework of rings shaped by the original mold used to create The Pool (2008).

Creating The Aurora

Wired Obsessed Feature: Jen Lewin

JLS-Final Template – No slideshow, stacked images, Text ON Left

The Aurora – 2021

Existing at the intersection of art and technology, The Aurora is a 29-foot-tall, 720-pound experiential sculpture in which both human interaction and weather factors create swirling patterns of color and light. The title of Lewin’s work references the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights—naturally occurring light phenomena that are visible in the northern sky during fall and winter months. Inspired by the beauty and complexity of these organic light forms, Lewin programmed her work to change color based on the weather in Minneapolis. Below The Aurora are eight platforms that respond to touch, encouraging visitors to actively participate in an ever-changing composition. Uniting nature, humanity, and technology, Lewin’s work underscores the dynamic interactions between people and environment.

The Aurora was completed in 2021 and was jointly commissioned by the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) and the Airport Foundation MSP. A 16-member Blue Ribbon Artist Selection Panel chose Lewin for the project because of her extensive experience creating new media and interactive sculptures for public use and enjoyment.