Have you always wanted to see the northern lights? The opportunity may be closer than you think.
An immersive, multisensory installation from Swiss artist Dan Acher is coming to the Boston area, reimagining the aurora borealis with a three-hour light and sound show. The installation, known simply as “Borealis,” is currently in the middle of an international tour, and arrived in Kendall Square as part of the Cambridge Science Festival.
Acher, who lives in Geneva and specializes in large-scale urban art installations, designed the exhibit to allow visitors to move around freely, examining the show from different viewpoints. Though the show will begin at 8 each night, attendees can come and go as they wish.
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The installation was first shown at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich. After the Cambridge Science Festival wraps up, it will head to festivals in Ireland, France, and the United Kingdom.
Acher, an Ashoka Fellow and founder of Happy City Lab, hopes that his installation will spark connections within communities and influence social change.
“My work is an experiment in living together in the urban environment,” Acher said in a 2015 Tedx talk. “By creatively rethinking our use of urban space, we can transform the way we engage both with each other and with our environment.”
The exhibit is being held at the MIT Open Space Oct. 6-9, and is free and open to the public.
Maya Homan can be reached at maya.homan@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @MayaHoman.