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Peter Erskine's "Secrets of the Sun: Millennial Meditations" is a culmination of his interest in the interplay of light, space, and architecture. For thirty years his sculpture has explored the way in which light falls on modulated surfaces. "Secrets of the Sun" uses the emotional impact of art to address the full range of nature from its most elemental expression as pure light to its most complex expression as global ecology.
In "Cromos" and "New Light on Rome" the universal beauty and power of the solar spectrum, one of Nature’s most fundamental forces, is superimposed on the surfaces and structure of some of the most beautiful public buildings in Italy.
Because the sun’s angle, intensity and color continually change with the hour, day, and season, the art, the ancient monuments, the trains and the stations are continually perceived in a fresh, new light." -
Peter Erskine's website. See more;
New Light on Rome 2000
"Trajan's Markets Aula and Hemicycle, House of the Knights of Rhodes, Porta di San Sebastiano, Criptoportico of Nero - stone witnesses to a bygone culture in Rome that today needs to be preserved and protected. At the dawn of the new millenium, these two thousand year old buildings are becoming a stage and a backdrop for a Solar Specturm art installation by Peter Erskine.
Erskine uses prisms and mirrors to spread white sunlight into the colors of the solar spectrum. He floods roman arches and columns with rainbows. Changing with the hours and seasons, the art is different every day of the year. The rays of the Sun, the origin of all life, create a fascinating interplay of colors and forms. Here, solar energy and monuments to human creativity unite to form a living work of art in which visitors themselves become creators and participants. We see ancient Rome in a new light."
Cromos: Solar Spectum art in public architecture, 2000 - 2001
"Commissioned by the Italian State Railway, Ferrovia dello Stato, Peter Erskine has created solar spectrum environmental installations in Rome Termini station, Florence Santa Maria Novella station, Milan Central station and on 30 EuroStar high speed trains running between Rome and Milan.
The geographic and architectural scope of the project probably makes it the largest artwork in the world. Over 5000 square feet of specially designed prism material were used including over 3.5 miles of prism in the 30 trains. However, the total project weight of all prism material used is less than 150 kilograms and virtually all the art materials will be recycled by the artist.
Ecologically, the Cromos project is an example of the "sustainability" principle of doing much more with much less."
Spectrum of Time, 1999
"Spectrum of Time" is a permanent rainbow sundial calendar installation in the Kokerei Zollverein, a United Nations Historic Preservation site. Hour and month lines painted on the walls and floor of the 40' X 40' X 40' industrial museum space mark the hours, summer and winter solstices, and the spring and autumn equinoxes with astronomical accuracy. A 30' X 30' cross of solar spectrum light powered by the rotation and tilt of the earth tells the time and date. On cloudy days a laser pointer driven by a solar tracking program fills in for the rainbow.
Spectrum of Time, Rainbow Sundial calendar. Visitors walk inside a living map of the solar year. Each "Rainbow Sundial calendar" is a unique joining of astronomy, architecture, locale, and art.
Sunrise, 1999
"Sunrise" is the first art experience in the Kokerei. Riding in a people mover, viewers ride the 400', 20 degree incline following the dark path of the coal in its original conveyor belt tunnel. As they rise, the viewers travel through a fog inlluminated 400' long 10' high solar spectrum beam, and pass through the changing colors of the rainbow. When they disembark on the factory roof they see the solar powered 8' X 8' heliostat solar tracking mirror, and solar prism that create the art.
