Displayed on a monumental frameless LED wall on Lincoln Center's Josie Robertson Plaza, "Solar Reserve (Tonopah, Nevada) 2014" is a computer simulation of an actual power plant known as a solar thermal power tower, surrounded by 10,000 mirrors that reflect sunlight upon it to heat molten salts, essentially forming a thermal battery which is used to generate electricity. Over the course of a 365-day year, the work simulates the actual movements of the sun, moon and stars across the sky, as they would appear at the Nevada site, with the thousands of mirrors adjusting their positions in real time according to the position of the sun.
This virtual world is meticulously constructed by the artist and a team of modelers and programmers using a sophisticated video game engine. Simultaneously over a 24-hour period the point of view will cycle from ground level to a satellite view every 60 minutes, creating an elaborate choreography among perspectives, 10,000 turning mirrors, and a dramatic interplay of light and shadow. Commuters passing by Lincoln Center on their way to work will see the sun charging the power plant as it rises in Pacific Standard Time, while visitors to evening performances might view a sunset before local Nevada constellations emerge and floodlights illuminate the solar tower at night.
"With each of these public art installations, we are hoping to provide unique, unexpected ways to engage with Lincoln Center," Lincoln Center Art Committee Chair Peter Kraus said in the announcement. "John's large-scale combination of technology and artistry superbly fits that bill."
For the project, Gerrard sent a photographer to Tonopah to "function like a human scanner" and document everything at the solar power site, from the shiny surfaces to down to small rocks on the dry ground, according to an annoucnement. In the end, nearly 5,000 pictures of the site in every kind of light from dusk to dawn to dusk again were given to his team of producers, who built digital 3D models of the site for manipulation in the game engine. "At the end of a long process, it's exported as a piece of software," Gerrard said of final presentation. "It may look like a film, but it's not really of that history. It's an alternative history. It's a file."
The work also is based around the complex choreography of actual astronomy, according to the announcement. "The sun, moon and stars are situated as they would appear at the actual Nevada site over the course of a year. As this virtual world rotates on the earth's axis throughout a 24-hour day, the perspective of the viewer gradually shifts from ground level to satellite view every 60 minutes, so that no view is precisely the same at any point during the course of the exhibition.