Beam Me Up

Although Japanese artist Hiro Yamagata's current installation at New York's Ace Gallery appears otherworldly—with flashing laser beams and endless planes of refractive surfaces—the inspiration is grounded firmly in nature: to explore how the sun's rays divide light into a spectrum of color. NGC6093, on view until July 28th, is simple in concept if not execution—30 technicians were required for installation. The artist covered the entire 25,000-sq.-ft. gallery in a grid of holographic Mylar panels and hung motorized, mirrored cubes that spin at programmed intervals. The surfaces refract light from a computerized system of high-tech laser and fiber-optic beams. If the parts seem to add up to a complex whole, that was indeed the artist's intention: "I continually strive to enhance the layers of visual information being presented and perceived simultaneously," he says. Although rooted in scientific inquiry, the exhibition is less an exercise in quantum electrodynamics than an absorbing—and at times overwhelming— visceral experience.

Ace Gallery: 275 Hudson Street; (212) 255-5599.