Lumin & Sublumin

A series of site-specific light installations by Ahmet Said Kaplan and DECOL Media Arts Studio that explores the relationship between light, architecture, human presence, and digital behavior.

Rather than functioning as illumination, light becomes a spatial medium that reveals structure, transforms perception, and establishes a dialogue between the visitor and the environment. Drawing inspiration from bioluminescent ecosystems, geological formations, and the temporal layers of architecture, the works create immersive experiences where physical space and computational systems continuously interact.

The series consists of two complementary installations. SUBLUMIN serves as a perceptual threshold, gradually attuning visitors to the architecture and atmosphere of the space, while LUMIN invites direct participation through a living digital ecosystem that responds to movement in real time.

Together, the works investigate light not as an object, but as a temporal phenomenon that exists between matter, space, and the body.
Adapted especially for the 20th anniversary of Kitoko Group.

LUMIN is an interactive media installation inspired by the behavior of bioluminescent organisms. Based on the glow-worms (Arachnocampa luminosa) that inhabit the caves of New Zealand, the work translates visitors' hand movements into dynamic fields of light in real time.

Each gesture generates new forces and spatial relationships within the digital environment, creating an invisible dialogue between the participant and the installation. Rather than playing back a predetermined animation, LUMIN is continuously generated in response to each interaction, making every experience unique.

Light functions not merely as a visual effect but as the behavior of a living digital organism—responding, adapting, and evolving through human presence.

SUBLUMIN is a site-specific light installation conceived as the perceptual threshold to the LUMIN experience.

The work follows the joints, fissures, and structural lines of an existing stone wall, allowing light to emerge from within the architecture itself. Rather than illuminating the surface, the installation reveals the wall as a living spatial mass whose texture, depth, and materiality become visible through light.

As visitors approach, their bodies interrupt the relationship between light and surface, producing shadows that make their presence within the space perceptible. Proximity continuously reshapes the experience: light recedes, the material surface comes forward, and perception shifts accordingly.

SUBLUMIN explores the temporal relationship between architecture, light, and the body, preparing visitors spatially and perceptually before entering the interactive world of LUMIN.