Jen Lewin is an artist and engineer based in Brooklyn, New York. Over her 27 year career, she has created many large-scale, interactive sculptures for the public.
Lewin thinks beyond traditional media, she wants to “connect human experiences that bring vibrancy to public places.”
The Aurora is a 29-foot-tall, 720-pound sculpture where both human interaction and weather factors create swirling patterns of color and light. The Aurora has over 10,000 interactive LEDs that are programmed to reflect live weather conditions in Minneapolis. Her main source of inspiration was the Northern Lights.
Uniting nature, humanity and technology, she was able to emphasize the dynamic interaction between people and the environment.
The Last Ocean is an expansive landscape of 250 interactive platforms made from reclaimed ocean plastic. Not only did she want to impact the recovery of the ocean, she wanted to inspire and educate others. By creating this piece, she wanted to showcase the uniqueness and fragility of the ocean.
In 2021, she began working with Ocean Plastic Technologies (OPT), a South African based company that has been working since 2016 to re-engineer the circular plastic economy.
This piece will be premiered at this year’s Burning Man (2022).
The Edison Cloud is made of 5,000 hand-welded metal rings, 3,000 vintage Edison bulbs and 3,000 white LEDs. This piece represents both an old-fashioned and handmade mentality. When walking under the sculpture, you will see a shadow above you, as if you are reflected by the sculpture.
She worked to create an experience where the movement of your body brings both beauty and form to these digital glass clouds.
The Helix, based on the dimensions of the golden ratio, is a series of 24 spires laid out in the form of a nautilus shell. The golden ratio is often seen in nature, for example, the petals of a lily, hurricane patterns and galaxy spirals. When interacting with the piece, it creates an immersive experience of rainbow light.
She wanted to show how math prevails through both the natural and built worlds and how people are drawn to that beauty.
Similar to the Helix, the Flow is composed of 24 interactive light tubes that swirl with light and plays an ethereal music tone when users wave theirs hands beneath it.
Not an NFT is a piece that “boils the idea of NFTs down to its barebones – light.” With this piece, she wanted to encourage viewers to interact with the ironic work in a fun way.
Currently exhibited at her studio in Brooklyn.
I liked how she incorporates interaction and art into her pieces. Even for the Not an NFT piece, she promotes people to interact with it. I find it admirable how she is able to find inspiration from various things and apply it to an interactive piece, while still providing a message in some way.
– Kevin Doan
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