For the first edition of the Ghent Light Festival, SAQ was invited to propose an installation on a site to be chosen in the city centre. The preferred location turned out to be the ancient amphitheatre in the “Aula Academia”, heart of the Ghent University.

Through projected and animated light, this light and sound installation called “BBASS” seeks to convey an entirely different reading of the space. The symmetrical layout of the circular auditorium is reinforced in the horizontal axis by adding a stretched canvas over the sitting area. The geometry of the canvas acts as a mirror image of the dome above. The animated light is projected on the canvas as well as on the dome while the visitors stand in between, on the peristyle level.

 Light animation intensified by short but powerful sound scenes also perceptible through floor vibrancy converts the hall into an abstract space: it acts upon the presence of spectators and questions the way they relate to the room.Like an oversized sound box, the lit-up features form a spectacle that distorts all sense of scale and time. The composed sound accompanies and emphasizes the visual impressions: first gratifying, then gradually confusing the spectators' spatial references.

During the three nights of the Ghent Light festival, BBASS turned out to be a public favorite and was visited by more than 80.000 people.