Kaleidoscope offers opportunities for visual, tactile, and experiential engagement that transform as one approaches, moves around, and interacts with the installation. From a distance, Kaleidoscope appears as a field of color and reflections, an ephemeral moment that changes character throughout the day. More immediately, the play of reflections between the prisms and the site produces a unique representation of daily life. Pedestrians can engage directly into this play by rotating the prisms, walking in and alongside the installation, or taking a moment to bask in the surreal experience of being inside a kaleidoscope.

 

The effects produced by Kaleidoscope are visceral yet unexpected. These sensorial enticements appeal to a broad and diverse audience; almost anyone can engage with and enjoy the installation. The dimensions and arrangement of the prisms are both accessible and approachable, inviting the curious to interact and become part of Kaleidoscope.

 

The design of Kaleidoscope was inspired particularly by the work of the late John Chase, former city planner for West Hollywood. John’s front yard at his West Hollywood home featured color acrylic vertical planes placed throughout the landscape, and his front fence was a series of regularly spaced columns. The sculptural screens of Harry Bertoia, the spirited visual effects of Op-Art, and the graphic identity of WeHo, notably the city logo, were also influential during the design process.

 

The installation is comprised of fifty double-sided, multi-colored, mirrored acrylic prisms. Each prism included two faces of mirrored acrylic fastened to an inner wood frame. Installed vertically on steel columns, the prisms rotate independently with a light touch. The columns of prisms are organized in two lines at a slight angle to one another to produce reflections between the prisms, the viewer, and the surrounding context. Two custom Swing Seats, designed by Rob Berry, Daveed Kapoor, and Emily Morishita, are located at one end of Kaleidoscope, providing a playful place to sit and take in the colors and reflections of the piece.

 

 

Address:  9000 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, California 90069

 

Kaleidoscope is a project of the City of West Hollywood Micro-Park Pilot Program.

 

Kaleidoscope was designed and built by Daveed Kapoor of utopiad.org and Rob Berry of Berry and Linné. Engineering for the project was completed by Mark Ficinski. The steel components were fabricated and installed by Luis Solano.