Laserartist pays tribute to Escher with a new, spectacular live performance in Scheveningen

The Hague – This month a new laser artwork can be seen on the beach of The Hague in which abstract worlds are brought to life with light and sound. In the evenings from September 21 to 24, artist JesterN, or Alberto Novello, will perform his twenty-minute art experience BLACKLIGHT X live in Scheveningen as an ode to the work of M. C. Escher.

Novello is an internationally renowned artist who designed BLACKLIGHT X especially for the Escher Year in The Hague. He says: “BLACKLIGHT Sound controls the laser beams, which creates a synaesthetic experience for the audience, stimulating all senses in addition to sight and hearing.”

Canvas of 300m2

In BLACKLIGHT X, different colored lasers merge to form cities, forests, fictional architecture and abstract worlds. These are projected on a wall of stacked shipping containers six meters high and more than forty meters wide. This results in a 'canvas' of almost 300 square meters in the open air on the beach. The shipping containers are all owned by beach restaurants and will be used for storage of the demolished restaurants after the end of the beach season, just after BLACKLIGHT X.

BLACKLIGHT X takes place outside, on the beach of Scheveningen, between beach restaurants The Fat Mermaid and Sol Beach.

Aesthetics of the analog

Italian Alberto Novello, or artist and music artist JesterN, is known for his innovative use of light and sound to explore and connect these two elements. For this he often uses found or analogue devices such as oscilloscopes, old game consoles, analogue video mixers and lasers.

His performances emphasize the vibrancy and aesthetics of analog equipment compared to digital projections. In addition, it provides its audience with food for thought regarding the socio-political impact of technology and the value of the 'new' compared to the 'old'.

Novello's works have been exhibited worldwide, including at the Center Pompidou in Paris, the Venice Biennale, the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid and Bozar in Brussels, as well as at the Amsterdam Dance Event, New York Computer Music Festival and the Seoul International Music Festival.

Specially developed

Organizer Heino Walbroek, chairman of the International Fireworks Festival Foundation, says: “Novello works with laser projections on all kinds of different surfaces. He calls his projections 'visual listening'; a deeper way to understand sound by visualizing it with light. BLACKLIGHT

The project is a production of Buitengewoon Scheveningen, municipality of The Hague, SIVS, iqagency_ and Italian Institute of Culture. It takes place during Escher's anniversary; This entire year, The Hague is celebrating that the Netherlands' most famous graphic artist, M.C. Escher, was born 125 years ago. See www.denhaag.com/escher for more information.