Idea
UNGROUND is a kinetic typographic light installation that revolves around the letters of the German word ORDNUNG (“order”). Rather than forming a coherent whole, these letters spin in constant motion, occasionally hinting at partial words-such as GROUND or RUN-but never fully settling. The piece mirrors our collective news consumption: refreshing headlines day after day, hoping to find something solid, only to be met with further fragmentation.
The invented term UNGROUND suggests the absence of any firm foundation, capturing both an internal sense of rootlessness and an external reality defined by constant crisis updates.
Photos: Jennifer Braun
Context
In Germany, studies such as the Security Radar by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation reveal a high level of trust in the media alongside heightened anxiety about geopolitical developments. This tension - the desire to stay informed vs. the fear of what we might learn - drives the themes of UNGROUND.
Losing Ground
The word “Ordnung” implies structure and predictability. By scrambling its letters, the installation underscores how the reassurance we seek from news and information often dissipates before we can grasp it. Borrowing from Marshall McLuhan’s concept of the “global village,” UNGROUND speaks to the paradox of feeling increasingly connected - yet increasingly anxious.
Endless Refresh
Visitors watch as three gobo projectors cast rotating capsules of letters onto a wall. These letters swirl unpredictably, much like the endless scroll of headlines in a media feed. Sometimes they briefly align to suggest meaning; more often they remain ambiguous, reflecting the elusive nature of “ground truth” in a world saturated with updates.
Personal Experience
The project draws on the artist’s personal experience of checking news sites dozens of times a day, which ultimately leads to a profound sense of emptiness rather than control. This emotional burnout is at the heart of UNGROUND: by visually fragmenting the ideal of “order,” it invites reflection on how we process (and sometimes drown in) the vast currents of information.
Technical Side
3D-Printed Letters in Capsules Each capsule contains letters with typefaces inspired by actual media logos (a business newspaper, a tabloid, and a local city paper). The varied typefaces create slightly different dynamics under rotation.
Bright LED Gobo Projectors
Standard gobos projectors were modified, replacing halogene bulbs with intense 50W LEDs. Each projector continuously rotates its capsule, keeping the letters in motion and preventing any permanent alignment.
Reflections in Lüdenscheid Projected onto the walls of the abandoned city mall, the projected letters become recognizeble by reading their mirrored versions in the glass windows.
Photos: Slava Romanov
Presentation
UNGROUND was presented at the Lichtrouten Festival, March 20-29, 2025, in the abandoned Forum am Sternplatz, Lüdenscheid (DE). Projectors illuminated a corridor wall, enveloping passers-by in a dynamic dance of letters. Visitors could watch the fleeting formations and ask themselves how often they, too, refresh news feeds in search of answers - only to find more questions.
Links
Author
- Slava Romanov: Concept, design, and execution