Parallel

A new digital commission from German light and sound artist Robert Henke, Parallel is a multicolour, high-power laser installation that spans The Lowry’s huge Lyric auditorium, turning the space into an ephemeral object of colour and shadows.

Visitors will be able to experience the empty 1700-seat theatre in a very unusual way. Five long screen segments are mounted in parallel lines at two different heights inside the auditorium space and transform it into a three dimensional sculpture that can be explored from many angles.

Two lasers mounted below the ceiling draw moving lines on the screens, in sync with a musical score played back via multiple loudspeakers. The laser beams are visible, too, forming a complex moving object made of light that connects the ceiling with the screens.

Parallel combines elements of sculpture, abstract cinema and musical composition into a unified immersive experience, specifically designed for the Lyric auditorium. Parallel has no end and beginning, and invites visitors to explore the work for a freely defined period of time and from many different positions.

Whilst Henke is using state of the art technology, his focus is the fabrication of mental spaces, where the engineering is a necessity but never the core of the work. Coming from a background of computer science and electronic music production, he began exploring lasers a few years ago and since then created several performance and installation pieces using the medium.

His award winning laser works have been shown at the Centre George Pompidou in Paris, the Barbican concert hall in London, the Melbourne Recital Centre in Australia and at numerous galleries and festivals around the world.