What you're seeing in these photos on the left is a solar disc. 700+ LED cells store energy during the day and provide constantly changing color and pattern throughout the night on Zadar's promenade. The disc is one part of a site specific installation by Nikola Basic who received the Europe prize for this work a few years ago. The other part of his installation is those steps to the Adriatic Sea viewed in the bottom photo. There are pipes under those steps and holes in the concrete above them. As the sea washes into the pipes, they behave like organ pipes, pushing the air through those vents in the concrete to create notes/sounds very much like whale or dolphin calls. Those notes are programmed into the solar disc and provide the patterning and color data. The work is a fabulous placemaker and even in the wee hours, there are people on and around the disk; during the day locals are swimming off those steps. In the evening, hordes of people are on the promenade, lingering at the disc awhile before going to the shopping and entertainment areas about a mile further up the walk.
Our cabin's balcony overlooked the disc, and I found myself on the balcony, hypnotized by the changing patterns at 2 am, then 3 am. Wouldn't it be great to have Mr. Basic create a work like this for downtown Shreveport.
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