Two atmospheric suns Experience and environmental manipulation in the Radio City Music Hall and The Weather Project

Abstract

Two relevant case studies are presented for the way in which they recreate environmental simulations in the form of a “sun” and their ability to intensify the experience of their viewers: the Radio City Music Hall in New York, in the early 1930s, and the The Weather Project installation in London, 70 years later. The objective of its authors was to recreate a sequence of effects to produce an over-stimulation of great intensity. Although both experiences belong to very different contexts and circumstances, both used the technology of each moment to, together with the characteristics of the building itself, put its spectators in “ecstasy” (thousands in the New York case, some tens simultaneously in the London case) gathered in front of the representation of a perfectly synthesized natural phenomenon, just as we do in front of a great sunset. However, these effects, wrapped in a subtle manipulation of those who are exposed to them, are today the subject of controversy, since the methods used will be described by some authors as “aggressive” insofar as they can lead to certain behaviors, desires and experiences are more likely to occur without their viewers necessarily being aware of it.