AUSTRALIA: As Albany prepares to mark 200 years since Europeans first arrived on Menang Noongar Country in 2026, celebrations have begun with ‘Lighting the Sound’; an extraordinary large-scale installation by internationally renowned Finnish light artist Kari Kola. Described as the largest outdoor light installation ever undertaken, the immersive work stretches more than 15 kilometres across King George Sound and is reportedly visible from space.

Organised by FORM and produced by Kola in consultation with Menang Elders and the local community, the installation transformed Albany’s coastline and landmarks over three weekends, exploring ancestral, cultural, ecological, and historical themes. Thousands of hectares were illuminated, creating a vast living canvas where weather, landscape, and light became inseparable elements of the artwork.

Kola’s concept centred on revealing what already existed within the land rather than imposing artificial spectacle. Inspired by the Bloodroot plant; Menang – the namesake of the region’s First Nations people; the visual language was dominated by intense green light, punctuated by occasional red beams symbolising the plant itself.

To represent the Bloodroot plant, Kola needed a single, powerful, razor-sharp red beam capable of cutting across the landscape with extraordinary precision. So, for this, he turned to Ayrton’s Mamba fixtures, supplied by Elite Lighting.

“The Ayrton Mamba is the strongest beam that there is on the market,” explains Kola. “They were also ideal due to their weight, as all the gear had to be hoisted one by one to very high positions. They are also equipped with a sun protection system, which was useful in the harsh Australian summer weather.”

With its laser source, extremely long throw distance, and exceptionally narrow beam, Mamba became the perfect visual symbol of the Bloodroot within the installation. “It’s full of dynamics still, because it’s a very long throw and it depends on the clouds, it depends on the moisture, it depends on the fog, it depends on the wind, so there are actually lots and lots of dynamics in this,” he commented. “In fact, you cannot capture two identical simultaneous photographs.”

Additionally, to realise his vision for all the other elements integral to the installation; Kola required an entirely new lighting system. Unable to find existing fixtures capable of delivering the required quality and intensity of green light, Kola designed eleven prototypes using specialised optics with precise colour wavelengths. The final system comprised around 800 custom-built IP65-rated LED wash fixtures, manufactured by three companies, with beam angles ranging from 3° to 19° and outputs tailored for different applications.

Installation within a protected natural reserve brought major environmental challenges, requiring 18 months of consultation, ecological studies, and strict planning. The solution involved thirteen 20-metre steel scaffolding towers positioned across the landscape, each supported by local generators to minimise cabling and site impact.

While installation took just seven days, Kola spent five additional days focusing the system; critical given the scale and the project’s reliance on nature itself. Low clouds, still water, rain, and clear skies all shaped the final visual result, making the environment an active collaborator in the work.