Story of The Blue Hours
As Long As The Night Lasts – The Blue Hours
SHINTARO KONO, 2025
When I was in a truble, it could be a good idea to look up to the sky.
And somehow, the heaviness inside of me comes to be a slight lighter.
Perhaps it was from this feeling
that people long time ago chose the character「空」(means emptiness in chinese) for “sora”, means the sky in japanese.
The sky tells me that how vast the world is, as well as how tiny and how temporary being I am is.
And it also tells that; we humans are just the being that thrown into this relative teme space, living in a time just goes like wind or which can be never-ending-ish.
Now it's time to bring the sky's effect into our living space as the sculpturous light, even after the sunset, as long as the night lasts.
Size: H8.5 x W28 x D7cm (approx. H3.3" x W11" x D2.8")
Material: Acrylic board, aluminium, electronic components
About the Work
Since ancient times, we have looked up at the sky to sense the vastness of the world beyond ourselves.
To read the weather, to measure time, to pray, or simply to calm the mind.
The sky was never just a backdrop. It was one of the great environments that quietly shaped human perception and thought.
Blue sky, in particular, seems to have a mysterious effect.
Though it is, in physical terms, nothing more than a phenomenon of light, it brings to the viewer a sense of openness, distance, lightness, and at times, a temporary kind of relief.
On days spent too long indoors, on days when the mind sinks inward, we sometimes long for the sky not through reason, but through the body itself.
This piece was born in response to that longing.
Even after night has fallen and the sky outside is no longer visible, I wanted to keep the lingering blue of the daytime sky present within the room.
By doing so, I wondered whether it might be possible to let a small sense of the outside enter even a closed interior.
The Blue Hours took shape from that thought.
A room at night can sometimes become a closed space.
Thoughts lose their direction, and both gaze and feeling begin to turn inward.
The Blue Hours is a work made to create another kind of exterior within such a closed night.
It is not a substitute for a window, but a light piece that quietly continues to hold the memory of what it feels like to look up at the sky.
The piece contains an embedded GPS module that calculates the local times of sunset and sunrise based on the latitude and longitude of its location.
It lights up at sunset, then gradually goes dark from one side as the night deepens, until the final light fades at dawn.
Wherever it is placed in the world, its softly flickering light remains beside you for as long as the night lasts.
This piece is currently available through made-to-order purchase.
Production begins after your order is placed, and the work will be shipped within 2 to 4 weeks.
You can place your order here.