TREE OF LIGHT - OMA Space

Reconnecting humans to their inner self through an immersive and a meditative experience

By Google Arts & Culture

For the Jacquard x Google Arts & Culture Residency, design studio OMA Space conceived the “TREE OF LIGHT”, a meditative walking experience that centers around a symbolic Tree, into which audience members enter never to return.

With the growing stress and accelerated pace of our over connected everyday lives, human attention is geared towards the outside with permanent interactions and dynamics dictated by the need to be available.

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Tree of Light - Installation View

, OMA Space

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TREE OF LIGHT invites the audience to gear this attention towards the inside to offer people space and time; a capsule experience for recollection and reconnection with life’s essential state of awareness.

Inspired by the circular slow walks of Zen Buddhist monks, OMA SPACE intends to create a contemporary ritual walk — barefoot, in slow motion and guided by the light, while consciously feeling each step. On the spiral path composed of 108 steps, visitors feel a progression from rough to delicate sensations and from noise to silence.

Disappearing in a spiral corridor between semi transparent indigo curtains, they finally reach the hidden centre where they experience an intimate and still moment of bliss into a bath of golden light.

Meet the artists: OMA Space

OMA Space - Jacquard Residency

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"We are Jang Jiu, Daniel Kapelian and Gil Kyoung-young. Our design studio OMA Space is based in Seoul, Korea. We craft and design traditional textiles into contemporary forms.

In all our creations, we express the natural essence of the fabrics, sublimated by an artistic dimension and a spiritual presence within. With our garments we dress the body and the soul. Each piece is unique or in a very limited edition, handcrafted with great care and time.

With our art & design objects and installations we weave tradition and innovation. We explore primitive and digital techniques to create spirited works that connect to nature within new forms. OMA Space is marked by a philosophy incarnated in what we do and the way we do it, with respect for the environment, for the sustainability of our creations and for the makers working with us."

See the process

TREE OF LIGHT proposes a walk on 108 steps divided in 12 sections. Each section is composed with a choice of different organic materials and textures to step on, with a sensorial progression from rough to delicate. Here is a selection of 6 steps to illustrate this hand crafted creation made with great care.

STEP 1 / section rough 1 by OMA Space

STEP 1 / section rough 1

Cork oak wood bark

STEP 2 / section rough 2 by OMA Space

STEP 2 / section rough 2

Korean lespedeza wood branches

STEP 3 / section rough 3 by OMA Space

STEP 3 / section rough 3

Plum seeds sewn in cotton

STEP 4 / section medium 1 by OMA Space

STEP 4 / section medium 1

Palm tree fibres

STEP 5 / section delicate 1 by OMA Space

STEP 5 / section delicate 1

Bamboo and Korean hanji paper yarn knitted

STEP 6 / interactive section by OMA Space

STEP 6 / interactive section - linen and painting

Here is our interactive step – almost magic – with Jacquard by Google technology seamlessly embedded to activate light and sound to lead people on the path.