Golden Light (2022) is a music composition that is complementary to the sensory experience of the Benito Equenazi’s You Are Worth More Than Your Weight in Gold interactive sculpture. When a participant steps on the sculpture’s scale, the board computer and custom operating system captures the price of gold at that moment and converts the user’s weight to their value in gold.
By subverting traditional units of self-appraisal, the WiG allows users to value themselves beyond any finite valuation: it says you are perfect just as you are. By experimenting with this physical interactive experience, Esquenazi creates a space for self-transformation.
The WiG’s physical appearance is a rich gold color painted over steel. Lights emanate from the bottom of the work providing the appearance that the sculpture is floating above the floor. The WiG is displayed Infront of a 16’x8’ wall comprised of body positivity messages. Motion graphics animate the WiG when not in use and are influenced by the last 30 day trend of gold price and volume data.
The meditative audio envelopes the sculpture and all users that enter its space with a reflective, warm and expansive composition, with the potential to create an environment that is transformational to the user who interacts and is vulnerable to what the WiG offers.
The audio work composed by Juraj Kojs titled; Golden Light” is partially inspired by French-American composer Edgar Varese, who composed “Density 21.5” for solo flute as a tribute to his own platinum flute — 21.5 references the approximate density of platinum.
In “Golden Light,” the density of gold (estimated at 19.3 grams per cubic centimeter) serves as the basis for musical exploration. The value 19.3 was mapped to frequency of 19.3Hz, which is a musical note E-flat 0. The music is thus composed to manifest harmonic spectra built on this fundamental frequency.
The golden ratio, denoted by Greeks as ϕ or τ (approximately 1.618), governs the temporal development of music. The thirty-minute track is thus divided into 3 sections: 0-11:28, 11:28-18:32 and 18:32-30:00.
18:32 is the golden section of 30 minutes, and 11:28 is the golden mean of 18:32.
Thus, gold is everywhere!”
“Golden Light” is the audio composition that is part of the sensory experience of the WiG. It envelopes the sculpture and all users that enter its space with a reflective, warm and expansive composition.
Composer: Juraj Kojs
Produced and Commissioned by: Benito Esquenazi / Atelier Benito, INC.
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