ITER — a piece of art
24 Jun 2015
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Sabina Griffith
His black and white images of the stellarator Wendelstein 7-X have more resemblance to an alien spaceship than a fusion device. And, through his lens, the rather prosaic Poloidal Field Coils Winding Facility at ITER takes on another dimension.
Photo: Christian Luenig
German photographer Christian Luenig is well respected in the fields of documentary photography, photojournalism and photo arts. He has won many awards for his interpretation of architecture, technology and research — and even the occasional rave party. One of his most recent prizes was received for work on two German fusion devices, the Textor tokamak in Juelich and the Wendelstein stellarator in Greifswald.
"I have always been fascinated by capturing complex scientific projects, by translating high-tech into art. When I read about Wendelstein being assembled at the Max-Planck-Institute for Plasmaphysics I thought—I have to get in there! And so it was..."
"I have always been fascinated by capturing complex scientific projects, by translating high-tech into art. When I read about Wendelstein being assembled at the Max-Planck-Institute for Plasmaphysics I thought—I have to get in there! And so it was..."
It comes thus as no surprise that — having made contact with the fusion community - he wished to shoot the "the making of" at ITER.
The characteristic texture and particular lighting of Luenig's images comes from a technique called "tone mapping." Multiple exposures of one object are digitally layered and then rendered by a special program. The result is quite dramatic on metal surfaces such as fusion devices.
The image gallery below shows some of the results from his maiden visit to the ITER worksite. He will certainly be back once the assembly of the ITER machine is in full swing to create art from the ITER machine.
For more information about Christian Luenig and to view his work, visit www.arbeitsblende.de. (All images: Christian Lünig/ VG Bild und Kunst)
Opérations de dynamitage et d'excavation ont été réalisées en continu pour créer la fosse d'isolation sismique du Complexe Tokamak.
La fosse d'isolation sismique (90 m x 130 m) se situe précisément à 298,65 m au-dessus du niveau de la mer. On va bientôt atteindre la profondeur de 17 mètres.
Des charpentes mobiles sont mises en œuvre pour accélérer le coulage du plancher de béton au troisième étage du siège d'ITER. Vingt-quatre de ces charpentes sont positionnées côte à côte, permettant ainsi de couler presque 200 mètres carrés de plancher chaque jour. Photo : AIF
Le creusement des fondations du bâtiment-siège ont débuté au mois d'octobre 2010. Ce vaste bâtiment sera solidement ancré dans le sol à cinq mètres de profondeur. Photo : AIF
No complex steel fusion machine to photograph yet, but plenty of graphic form work, rebar and crane towers.
The characteristic texture and particular lighting of Luenig's images comes from a technique called "tone mapping." Multiple exposures of one object are digitally layered and then rendered by a special program.
Chacune des 62 colonnes en béton de l'Installation de bobinage mesure 19 mètres de haut. Photo : F4E
Soon to reach 60 metres, the pillars of the Assembly Building loom over the Tokamak Seismic Pit below.
Tout au long de l'itinéraire ITER, des campagnes d'information ont permis au public de suivre le progrès des travaux. Photo: DREAL
Au-dessus du canal EDF, on remplace l'ancien pont par une nouvelle structure renforcée. Photo: DREAL