About Peter Erksine
Peter was born in 1941 in New Haven, CT. and received his MFA from the University of Pennsylvania in 1967. His first work that leveraged the “Solar Spectrum Environmental Art” was in 1989, and called “Secrets of the Sun: Millennial Meditations (S.O.S)”. This was an early warning message on global warming and climate change, speaking to the beauty of the sun but the dangers of a warming Earth.
Peter proceeded to install permanent art installations in five countries, and temporary exhibits in numerous more. See some examples of this work below:
Sunrise (1999)
Located in Kokerei, “Sunrise” is a 400 ft long conveyor tunnel that was originally used to move coal from a mine. Viewers move through this tunnel at a 20 degree incline as it is filled with fog and a 10 ft tall solar spectrum beam. As the viewers ascend through the shaft, they literally pass through the spectrum of the rainbow.
Spectrum of Time (1999)
A permanent installation in a UN Historic Preservation Site, Kokerei Zollverein, “Spectrum of Time” is a sundial calendar.
The installation leverages prisms to shine a giant 30′ x 30′ cross of rainbow of colors along a calendar lines, marking hours accurately, along with seasonal equinoxes and solstices.
Cromos: Solar Spectrum in Art in Public Architecture
(2000 – 2001)
In “Cromos”, Erksine installed solar spectra prisms in train terminals across Rome and Milan, as well as on 30 individuals trains running between those stations.
Over 5000 square feet of prism were used, which stretched to 3.5 miles across all of the 30 trains.
The installation was officially commissioned by Ferrovia dello Stato (the Italian State Railway).
New Light on Rome (200o)
In “New Light on Rome”, Erksine chose several sites across Rome that have ancient significance. In a celebration of the new millienium, the artist showered these historical sites with a new light.
Again leveraging the solar spectrum, Erksine installed prisms through the sites. The final effects different from hour to hour and month to month, as the suns angles change throughout the day and throughout the seasons.
