Royal Sky

Royal Sky allows visitors to move freely within and below the artwork, experiencing the dynamic light patterns that mirror the movement of the northern lights across the sky.

The piece connects with Nobel Prize laureate and physicist Hannes Alfvén, who developed a theory about the aurora borealis. This natural spectacle occurs when charged particles from the sun encounter Earth’s magnetic field and is mimicked by the artist Jānis Petersons with laser projections.

These streams of particles are examples of plasma – a distinct state of matter in which gases consist of free electrons and charged ions. In the 1930s, Hannes Alfvén began developing a theory about how the aurora functions, which later became the foundation of magnetohydrodynamics – a scientific field that describes how plasma moves and interacts with electric and magnetic fields.

Jānis Petersons (Artistic Latvia)

Jānis Petersons is a light artist and engineer who has been creating large-scale installations and spectacular fountain shows since 2011. Based in Latvia, he has contributed extensively to city festivals, specializing in stage design, lighting, sound, scenography, and technical production.

Petersons has participated in several internationally renowned light festivals and has created various installations for the Staro Rīga. He is the creator and owner of a custom-designed water screen technology.