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AURORA

Grimanesa Amorós AURORA, 13 x 8 x 6-foot commissioned LED sculpture and light sculpture in the storefront window of Tribeca ISSEY MIYAKE headquarters, New York, 2009 to 2010. Made of stainless steel, diffusion and reflective material, and LEDs, its form was inspired by the sweeping strips of shifting color of the Aurora Borealis, its light unfolding like stars across the polar horizon within Frank Gehry's boutique. Light sculpture by Grimanesa Amorós.
Grimanesa Amorós AURORA, 13 x 8 x 6-foot commissioned LED sculpture and light sculpture in the storefront window of Tribeca ISSEY MIYAKE headquarters, New York, 2009 to 2010. Made of stainless steel, diffusion and reflective material, and LEDs, its form was inspired by the sweeping strips of shifting color of the Aurora Borealis, its light unfolding like stars across the polar horizon within Frank Gehry's boutique. Light sculpture by Grimanesa Amorós.
Grimanesa Amorós AURORA, 13 x 8 x 6-foot commissioned LED sculpture and light sculpture in the storefront window of Tribeca ISSEY MIYAKE headquarters, New York, 2009 to 2010. Made of stainless steel, diffusion and reflective material, and LEDs, its form was inspired by the sweeping strips of shifting color of the Aurora Borealis, its light unfolding like stars across the polar horizon within Frank Gehry's boutique. Light sculpture by Grimanesa Amorós.
Grimanesa Amorós AURORA, 13 x 8 x 6-foot commissioned LED sculpture and light sculpture in the storefront window of Tribeca ISSEY MIYAKE headquarters, New York, 2009 to 2010. Made of stainless steel, diffusion and reflective material, and LEDs, its form was inspired by the sweeping strips of shifting color of the Aurora Borealis, its light unfolding like stars across the polar horizon within Frank Gehry's boutique. Light sculpture by Grimanesa Amorós.
Grimanesa Amorós AURORA, 13 x 8 x 6-foot commissioned LED sculpture and light sculpture in the storefront window of Tribeca ISSEY MIYAKE headquarters, New York, 2009 to 2010. Made of stainless steel, diffusion and reflective material, and LEDs, its form was inspired by the sweeping strips of shifting color of the Aurora Borealis, its light unfolding like stars across the polar horizon within Frank Gehry's boutique. Light sculpture by Grimanesa Amorós.
Grimanesa Amorós AURORA, 13 x 8 x 6-foot commissioned LED sculpture and light sculpture in the storefront window of Tribeca ISSEY MIYAKE headquarters, New York, 2009 to 2010. Made of stainless steel, diffusion and reflective material, and LEDs, its form was inspired by the sweeping strips of shifting color of the Aurora Borealis, its light unfolding like stars across the polar horizon within Frank Gehry's boutique. Light sculpture by Grimanesa Amorós.
Grimanesa Amorós AURORA, 13 x 8 x 6-foot commissioned LED sculpture and light sculpture in the storefront window of Tribeca ISSEY MIYAKE headquarters, New York, 2009 to 2010. Made of stainless steel, diffusion and reflective material, and LEDs, its form was inspired by the sweeping strips of shifting color of the Aurora Borealis, its light unfolding like stars across the polar horizon within Frank Gehry's boutique. Light sculpture by Grimanesa Amorós.
Grimanesa Amorós AURORA, 13 x 8 x 6-foot commissioned LED sculpture and light sculpture in the storefront window of Tribeca ISSEY MIYAKE headquarters, New York, 2009 to 2010. Made of stainless steel, diffusion and reflective material, and LEDs, its form was inspired by the sweeping strips of shifting color of the Aurora Borealis, its light unfolding like stars across the polar horizon within Frank Gehry's boutique. Light sculpture by Grimanesa Amorós.
Grimanesa Amorós AURORA, 13 x 8 x 6-foot commissioned LED sculpture and light sculpture in the storefront window of Tribeca ISSEY MIYAKE headquarters, New York, 2009 to 2010. Made of stainless steel, diffusion and reflective material, and LEDs, its form was inspired by the sweeping strips of shifting color of the Aurora Borealis, its light unfolding like stars across the polar horizon within Frank Gehry's boutique. Light sculpture by Grimanesa Amorós.
Grimanesa Amoros video thumbnail for AURORA

Location: tribeca ISSEY MIYAKE Headquarters | New York, NY, 2009 – 2010
13 ft x 8 ft x 6 ft (3.96 m x 2.44 m x 1.83 m)
Stainless steel, diffusion material and reflective material, LEDs, custom lighting sequence, and electrical hardware.

AURORA is a 13-foot light sculpture created for the storefront window of Issey Miyake’s TriBeCa headquarters, its sweeping LED arcs translating the visual phenomenon of the aurora borealis into an urban encounter with the cosmic, inviting passersby in the rhythm of the city to pause and experience light as something simultaneously natural, technological, and transcendent.

  • Commissioned for the storefront of Issey Miyake’s TriBeCa flagship, designed by Philippe Starck, AURORA aligned Amorós’s practice with one of fashion’s most celebrated innovation-driven brands, with both artist and designer sharing a deep commitment to the intersection of organic form, cutting-edge material, and human experience.
  • The work draws its formal language directly from the aurora borealis, which Amorós first witnessed in Iceland and described as a transformative encounter she spent years learning to translate into technological form, with AURORA representing her first major public realization of that ambition.
  • Tribeca Citizen (2009) noted the installation among the neighborhood’s most compelling new public art moments, situating AURORA within the broader cultural life of TriBeCa and affirming Amorós’s growing presence as one of the neighborhood’s defining artistic voices.
  • AURORA preceded the second Issey Miyake commission UROS (2011), establishing a sustained relationship between Amorós and the brand that made Issey Miyake’s TriBeCa headquarters one of the few retail spaces in New York to host multiple consecutive major public art commissions by the same artist.

Inspired by the Northern Lights, Grimanesa Amorós takes the viewer on a journey in her work AURORA. This light sculpture was created for the window of Issey Miyake’s headquarters in TriBeCa. The installation was inspired by how the aurora borealis draws itself across the night sky in sweeping strips of shifting color and movement. Its form suggests light unfolding like the stars in the sky, echoing the natural arcs that illuminate the polar horizon.

AURORA’s location in the Issey Miyake storefront, connects with Amoros’s mission to “share the light with others” and the brand’s vision of innovation and fluidity into the urban landscape. Passersby were invited to pause in the rhythm of the city and encounter light as an ephemeral phenomenon that connects the earthly with the cosmic.

For Amorós, light is presence without physical form. It surrounds us and defines what we see, yet remains intangible and fleeting, as she puts it, “it is ephemeral.”

AURORA is a continuation of Amorós’s ongoing dialogue with nature, technology, and human connection.