Artificial Northern Lights

Swiss artist Dan Acher's new project "Borealis" offers a possibility to experience the extraordinary beauty of the Northern Lights anywhere in the world. High-powered lasers project blue and green beams on the night sky to mimic the natural phenomenon. Due to variations in cloud density and changing weather conditions, the outcome is always different and unpredictable.

The Northern Lights, also known as Aurora Borealis used to be exclusively available for those few brave travellers who didn't mind cold and snow. To get a glimpse of the sight required patience and waiting for hours, without the promise the marvellous spectacle was going to happen. With a little help from technology it's possible to create a replica in any place on Earth.

The project premiered in the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in November this year. "People stopped in their tracks, in awe. Voices went quiet and, somehow, under this expanse covered by the lights, people would gather and create small groups to live this experience together," Dan Acher recounts. "It's all about our ancestral communion with nature and our recent compulsion to control it."

Sources: The Creators Project, Dan Acher