Espill: a satellite for the solstice

The Disseny Hub Barcelona will welcome the Christmas season with a new speculative design installation which will hang from the ceiling of its lobby: “ESPILL: a satellite for the solstice" is the work of the architecture firm TAKK. It uses the imagery of the Star of Bethlehem to trigger a discussion on the light pollution resulting from actions such as Christmas lighting or the increasing number of lights in the sky emitted by objects of human origin.

The TAKK intervention, which has been curated by Jose Luis de Vicente, the DHub's artistic director, with advice from the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), takes the shape of a life-size reproduction of a satellite weighing 180 kg and with a diameter of 5 metres: a round sphere covered by mirrors on one side. The speculative project also includes an explanation of how the satellite would be sent into space, what it would look like from Earth and how it would orbit around our planet. 

According to this proposal, it would be sent into space and orbit around the Earth, and the sun's rays would be refracted in its mirrors, resulting in a point of light that could be seen from different parts of the Earth each night. Whenever light was not to be emitted to the Earth, the satellite would turn round to leave the mirrors on the other side.El Disseny Hub Barcelona dona la benvinguda al Nadal amb una nova instal·lació de disseny especulatiu que es penjarà al sostre del vestíbul del centre. ESPILL: Un satèl·lit per al solstici, una creació de l’estudi d’arquitectura TAKK, recupera la iconografia de l’estel dels Reis d’Orient per obrir el debat sobre la contaminació lumínica que es deriva de pràctiques com ara la il·luminació nadalenca o la creixent presència al cel de punts lluminosos que corresponen a objectes d’origen humà.