This project, of pure research, funded jointly by the French Government (via La Villette) and the Electricity Board of France, EDF, sought to understand the nature and behaviour of high Voltage (20,000V) electrical discharge to create visible light forms. In the short term, if the preliminary experimentations were successful, a 20 metre high “cascade annulaire” would be installed as part of the animation within the central façade bioclimatique of the Science Museum of La Villette. In the long term, the objective is to control light three dimensionally.
This work was undertaken in 1986 by Jean-Louis L’hermitte Artist), François Bastien (Physicist) and Ian Ritchie (Architect), with the assistance of EDF de Clamart, Air Liquide, Alcatel and Schott France.
At the end of the preliminary research, within an 8 metre tall glass tube, repeatable forms were achieved at very low atmospheric pressures. The full physical understanding of these phenomena requires still further research.