Seeing the beauty in an abandoned house, Elogio de la Sombra and lighting designer Luisa Alvarez transformed its interior into a glowing installation. The piece, called Inhabitando, created a world of illuminated color throughout the house’s interior. The pair used recycled gels, lamps, furniture and film negatives to create the fantastical rainbow installation, and they immortalized it with color rich video.

For one day, the neglected building once again buzzed with life. Alvarez created the sense of presence of the abandon house’s former inhabitants by arranging recycled film negatives in front of the windows throughout the home. She carefully chose negatives depicting silhouettes of people. The light and shadows cast through the windows throw the silhouettes around the interior, creating the illusion of occupancy.

The installation also refurnished the interior, like the home would have been when inhabited. Discarded chairs were brought to life and treated with photographic gels in strips. Wrapped in rainbow colors, the chairs were then illuminated with light bulbs from within, creating a glowing spectrum.

Ropes of LED lights were draped along walls, around entrance ways, and up and down stairs, creating a sense of movement in the empty rooms. With Inhabitando, Alvarez and de la Sombra sought to humanize a vacant and forgotten home. Ironically, they were unsure if they would encounter squatters who had taken residence inside, when constructing the installation!

+ Luisa Alvarez

Via Frame Mag

Images via Luisa Alvarez Youtube