Need a study break? Visitors to VCU’s James Branch Cabell Library can experience "A Cold and Overcast Day" -- a light and sound installation by kinetic artist and VCU Associate Professor, Bob Kaputof. The work will be installed in Room 152, located on the first floor. The installation opens Tuesday, Oct. 24 and continues on view through Nov. 3. The door to the room will be closed but it is unlocked and patrons are invited to visit the exhibit at any time the library is open.

The installation is a smaller version of one that presented in 2016 as a larger piece at the University of Central Florida. Inside an 8x4-feet rectangle are flashing blurbs, lenses, found objects and toys. The random flashing of lights and the arrangement of the objects create an animated effect on the tissue paper encasing the cube form. “A Cold and Overcast Day” debuted locally in November, 2016 during InLight Richmond, a free public exhibition of light-based art and performances. The piece was awarded the New Market People’s Choice Award.

"I have created a random narrative of images with light, lens and objects, which I liken to a dreamscape with flashes of electricity, which create shadows of ideas, memories and desires," says the artist. "I have set up a series of analog bulbs with lenses positioned in front of and behind them. These bulbs are flashing and are placed at different heights and distances from various objects. The objects catch the light of the flashing bulbs and create a series of patterns and shadows.

"The effect is random. The images can be singular. But often times the images occur in combinations akin to the firing of neurons in the brain."

There is also a sound component produced by the flashing bulbs. By using an induction microphone and placing it directly on the bulbs and wires then playing it through an amplifier and sending it to a speaker, you’re actually hearing the electricity flashing.

Bob Kaputof teaches in the Department of Kinetic Imaging, School of the Arts.