http://bertrand-ivanoff-photos.blogspot.com/This blog is under construction.
You may also check:
http://www.facebook.com/Bertrand.Ivanoff

Rainbow box

Location: Uşkudar, Tutun Deposu, Paşalimanı Caddesi

Old tobacco warehouse built 19th century

Concept and Description:

Long lines of light (between 10m and 15 m) are set against the inside walls of the building.

These lines are symbolically taking their support from the past, the building structure, and are targeting the future, the sky.

The various lines of light are creating a bunch of multicoloured signs in reference to both the multi-cultural passed of Istanbul and the symbol of peace.

This project is designed to reveal the rich historical architectural environment of Istanbul. It adds a contemporary and energetic dimension to a void in the urban landscape. At the same time it tells how important a breathing space is needed in an ever-growing megapole.

This realization is part of « Ex-Change » a project managed by « Bureau des Désirs et Compétences, » Marseille and Çekul Foundation, Istanbul.

Supported by CFCU and 2010 Istanbul European Capital of Culture.

Technical info:

Metal rods:  52 lines from 10 to 15 m, total 650m

Neon tubes: 52 lines various colors, total 610m

Transformers:  65 units 220 volts

Realization: Cozum Neon, Istanbul 

View of the front and side walls facing street

sketch of the light installation project

back wall

back wall detail

front wall up

corner left and back wall

corner front and right wall

view from the street 
http://www.art-core.tv/index/content/807/Bertrand-Ivanoff-s-Rainbow-Box-a-neon-light-instal...

Wax neon

pure white neon tube cast in wax. 110 x 15 x 15 cm

Origine des mots - part 1

mix of various alphabet letters. neon tubes clear, white, pure white, daylight white. various dim.

Origine des mots - part 2

mix of several alphabet letters. plexiglass, stainless steel. various dim.

City grid plan - Sky line 

pure bleu neon tubes, inflatable p.v.c cubes, water in cubes. 140 x 140 x 50 cm

Grid Plan

Pure blue neon tubes hold together with inflatable p.v.c cubes. 150 x 150 cm

City Plan

Istanbul city plan, european side. Neon tubes fuchsia color. 140 x 180 cm

Ist. Pembe - Pink Istanbul

Site specific neon light installation for Tophane, a neighborhood on the European side of Istanbul.

The city street plan has been redesigned in pink color neon tubes and have been set on several buildings facades located in the heart of Tophane.

The light network branches out of the windows and it spreads over the walls like a climbing plant that grew its roots in a rich and dense history. It expands from one façade to the other. It mixes its light lines with the existing city landscape and at the same time it reverses the perception as the streets emerge from the building.

It is a flow of light, that is mapping the city that symbolicaly refers to the various flows of migrating populations who have created the Istanbul urban topography.

The gleaming street map enlightens an area of the city shared by numerous small businesses and deprived populations. Their future is uncertain since fast growing international speculations turn the local landscape into high-end rehabilitations. 

Technical infos:

Neon tubes Diam: 25 mm fixed on p.v.c structures.

Length total: 250 neon tubes

Transformers: 20 

Company: Isik Neon, Istanbul

This project was commissioned by FranceCultures and the French Institute in Istanbul for the first "Nuit Blanche" Istanbul in collaboration with the 10th International Istanbul Bienale.

With the support of: FranceCultures and the French Institute in Istanbul

left building

light reflecting on the building's walls

center and right buildings

close-up view of the left building facade

light reflecting on next building windows 

Kronprinz tower project, Kaliningrad, Russia

Concept:
To go through and to reach out.  To connect the stable element with the growing elements.
Development:
Located in former barracks in a city of heavy military history, Tower Kronprinz is a big and massive building that carries a strong defensive feeling. This military architecture is like a shell enclosed in it itself. The project is designed to break this architectural message.
The series of light lines bond the various elements together and create circulations and movements in place of the original no man’s land surrounding space.
The lines set at different levels and angles radiate from the core of the tower to connect with its settings. Air and trees, breathing and growing elements, are linked to the thick and passive edifice that can now absorb this vital energy.
Build solid, impenetrable and resistant to the external environment, the outdoor now becomes a vital source for the building. In a reverse movement, the inside reaches out the external world.
Going in, out and through, the lines connect the various sides of the building. The lights are pass ways between the inside and the outside, the front and the back, the before and the after. It is a call for discovery and exchanges.
With the light lines, the tower is no longer a divider but a connecting platform.
Curated by: Elena Tsvetaeva, Yulia Bardun, Anastasia Karpenko.
Commisioned by : NCCA - Kaliningrad, National Centre for Contemporary Art, the Russian Museum
With the support of: NCCA, "Saison française" in Russia 2010, French Institute in St Petersbourg, Culturesfrance 

Technical realisation of the project: OOO «NeonikaN» (Kaliningrad). 
Technical info: welded metal rods: 3 x 4 cm, total lenght 55 m 
Neon tubes: Ø 15 mm, total lenght  100 m 
Transformers: 9 units, each of 200Kw -30 mA

http://ncca-kaliningrad.ru/projects-eng/Projects/tower/

Sourdre - Touch, New York, Staten Island

Location: Bay Street Landing, Staten island New York

Building type: cast-in-place concrete warehouse (circa 1912)

Surface Total: 8 000 m2

Each floor of the 7 story building has been drilled with 600 three-quarter-inch holes. A pump pushes the water to the top floor. There, an irrigation system spreads the water on the floor’s surface. Then gravity pulls the water down floor by floor, through the entire building. The water echoes the architectural structure, which responds by reflecting its elements into the puddles. The two materials rubbing against each other define as well the desire and the danger of an intangible emotional dimension.

Les sols des 7 étages de l’entrepot ont été perforré, de 600 trous chacun, selon une structure en grille. Une pompe envoie l’eau du rez-de- chaussée jusqu’ au dernier étage. Là, un système d’irrigation repartit l’eau sur toute la surface du sol. L’eau soumise à la seule gravité s’échappe d’étage en étage et traverse l’immeuble. La reflection va redefinir et démultiplier l’espace architectural: 1/reflection sonore due au bruit de l’eau qui heurte les sols et resonne en echo sur les murs - 2/ reflection virtuelle à la surface des flaques d’eau qui renvoient et multiplient des images du volume. Le choc des ceux materiaux non miscibles (l’eau et le béton) suggere aussi l’emotion et le danger de la rencontre et du désir.
Lieu: entrepot en béton armé, construit en 1912 et situé  près du terminal des ferrys de Staten Island, New York. Surface totale: 8 000m2.

Outside view of the warehouse - vue extérieure de l'entrepot

water running through the 5th floor - eau traversant le 5ème étage

6th floor - 6 ème étage

4th floor - 4 ème étage

 Top floor piping system - Systeme d'irrigation au dernier étage

Ground floor water tank - Réservoir d'eau au rez-de-chaussée

video by Thierry Reynaud

Borusan Art Center, Taksim, Istanbul

Based on the street plan of Beyoglu, this large neon light installation develops its ramifications from the large side façade all the way up to the terrace walls of Art Center/Istanbul.

The concept of this artwork uses the city map as a sign of history, development and identity. Beyond architecture, the topography defines the specific identity of a city. This identity is given and belongs to everyone. Indeed, a street plan is a diagram that tells the story of both the various evolution stages of the city and the people who live in it. Now, the Art Center building is physically supporting this development symbol that literally climbs towards the future.

 at dawn

project drawing study

 view from the stairs going up to the terrace

 view from the terrace looking at Topkapi

 terrace wall

Seuils, Chapelle de Boendael, Bruxelles

This chapel built in the 15^th century has been transformed many times during the past few decades. The building has been unused for a long time and the inside has lost the signs of its former beauty.

The light installation design is based on both the former function of the chapel (thresholds) and the historical architectural signs (stain-glass colors).

Threshold symbol: inside the chapel the artist has set a series of rectangular frames that creates a broken line in the center of the building. The frames operate like several symbolic thresholds linked together.

Color: a long time ago, stain-glass was providing a multi colored light diffracting inside the chapel. Nowadays, the stain glasses have been replaced by neutral opaque glass. Each frame is a different color matching with the original colors used for stain glass. The color series represent also another threshold, the diffraction of light that is.

Désacralisée depuis longtemps, la chapelle de Boendael est devenue après des remaniements divers au cours des années, un lieu socioculturel tombé en désuétude. Le projet a été par conséquent conçu pour redonner une dynamique visuelle et spatiale à l’ensemble du bâtiment.

En partant de la fonction originelle du site, lieu de franchissement vers un autre espace, une série de six cadres de lumière néon emboités les uns dans les autres, a été placée selon un axe médian au centre de la chapelle .

L’ensemble constitue une ligne brisée, allant de l’entrée vers l’autel, dont les éléments qui la compose sont autant de seuils symboliques à franchir du regard. Le vide délimité par le périmètre des cadres posés en déséquilibre  créent une illusion d’effet mirroir par rapport à la symétrie du lieu.

Les cadres de néon sont successivement de couleur blanche, rouge, verte, jaune, bleue et violette. Ils représentent le franchissement d’un autre seuil, celui de la diffraction de la lumière.

With the support of the Cultural Services of the Municipality of Ixelles.

DEPO Istanbul, "Tutun Deposu"

The design of this neon light installation is a straightforward yet efficient series of pure white light lines that are connecting Tutun Deposu with the outside environment. The lines are set in various angles and heights between the art center, the back and the side buildings. This light device operates like a series of pathways that are working both ways between the inside and the outside. The energy comes form the outside and it enriches the internal production as much as the inside activities can escape to be perceived outside of the exhibition space. The light lines composition could remind of a naïve stitching but the strength of the neon light give a genuine feeling of active binds bridging the architectural elements.

The light installation is also making a clear sociological statement. The neighborhood is actually experiencing serious development. By creating these lines in a gentrifying context, the artwork reminds us that life in a city cannot survive without human exchanges and is not based on security concept that raises barriers and checkpoints.

Le concept de cette installation de lumière est une simple série de lignes de lumière blanche qui relient le bâtiment, Tutun Deposu, avec les alentours. Ces axes géométriques sont disposés selon des angles et des hauteurs différentes entre le centre culturel, le bâtiment arrière et les immeubles latéraux. Le dispositif lumineux fonctionne comme un système de passerelles opérant dans les deux sens entre l’intérieur et l’extérieur. Symboliquement l’énergie vient de l’extérieur pour enrichir l’intérieur autant que le l’intérieur peut s’évader vers l’extérieur pour être ressentie de loin.

La composition lumineuse pourrait faire penser à de maladroits points de suture mais la force de la lumière évoque un authentique sentiment d’échanges entre les éléments architecturaux. Comme par ailleurs ce quartier est entrain de vivre de profonds changements dus à la spéculation immobilière ces lignes de lumière nous rappelle que la vie dans la cité n’existe pas sans humanité et ne peut pas être structurée sur des concepts sécuritaires de clivages sociaux qui érigent des barrières de protection et de contrôle. Ce projet est donc la confirmation que la circulation et les échanges sont essentiels pour la survie des hommes et de leurs différentes cultures.

In collaboration with DEPO, curated by Emre Baykal.

http://www.depoistanbul.net/en/index.asp

Light Shoring - Tophane, Istanbul

Green lines – light shoring is site-specific alteration project realized in an abandoned building next to the Bosphorus in Tophane, district of Beyoglu. There, in the middle of the street, lies the carcass of a former family house. A long time ago what was a private space, is now exposed to everybody.

A series of neon light lines has been placed inside the building volume. The neon lines connect together the adjacent buildings. The lines set in various directions and angles are designed to function like a shoring system that supports in an energetic and lightweight mode, the fragile building structures.

The empty space is now a hub where the energy is passing through. It rehabilitates the life integrity of the street line.

The former inner privacy that became visible is now being transformed into a genuine public space.

The project has reclaimed this anonymous yet depressing fragment of the urban landscape and it has turned it into an active element.

The sadness and the abandon of the past have switched to a bright moment of present time.

In collaboration with Cultures france and the French Institute in Istanbul.