Digital art at the Jenoptik high-rise building: ZEITGUISED I The Abbe Number
The new Jenoptik tangente digital art transforms the Ernst Abbe high-rise into a fragmented glass cube that breaks light down into its spectral colors. Completely virtually. On display daily from 7 p.m. every 30 minutes on the Jenoptik high-rise in the heart of the city of light, Jena. The work, designed especially for the high-rise by Berlin studio ZEITGUISED, can be seen from October 17 to 31. Art and science merge.
Ernst Abbe high-rise, Carl-Zeiß-Str. 1, 07743 Jena, Germany
Dispersion becomes aesthetic essence
The Ernst Abbe high-rise virtually becomes an optical medium that breaks down incident light into its spectral colors—a direct homage to Ernst Abbe's fundamental research on dispersion, whose decisive magnitude is described by the “Abbe number.”
Dispersion refers to the wavelength-dependent refraction of light. In optical devices, it manifests as colored fringes and edges (chromatic aberration). These are normally corrected at great expense. In “The Abbe Number,” they now become the aesthetic essence. The animated glass fragments create a kaleidoscopic play of colors and shapes, whose dynamic rhythm poetically translates the complex physics of light refraction. The simulation of the two projector lights from the direction of Volkshaus and Carl-Zeiß-Platz is directly integrated into the artistic work as a technical reality.
Scientific precision becomes a powerful visual experience in the city of light Jena
The Abbe number becomes the generator of a visual composition of light, color, and architecture. The high-rise building becomes a functional structure, a dispersion prism—a larger-than-life monument to the connection between science and art.
About the exhibition
The curators of our tangente digital art are Robert Seidel, Berlin and the Hubert & Treff gallery, Jena.
The projection can be seen daily between 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. on the hour and half hour from October 17 to 31, 2025.
Video art at the Ernst Abbe building
Jenoptik has been hosting its own art exhibitions since 1996. Under the name “tangent” (in German “tangente”), they offer points of contact between business, technology, art, light, and perception.
In 2022, Jenoptik launched the tangente digital art exhibition series, which showcases international and national digital art at its high-rise building and headquarters, thereby bringing its commitment to art into the broader public sphere. The artworks are projected onto two facades of the high-rise building in the center of the light city of Jena, covering an area of 960 and 625 square meters respectively.
The art projection by ZEITGUISED is Jenoptik's eighth digital art exhibition, which runs twice a year at the Ernst Abbe high-rise.
- NEOZOON | FragMANt TOWER | Spring 2025
- Peter Burr | ARCHITECTURE MACHINE #10 | Autumn 2024
- Lorna Mills | Living in Loops | Spring 2024
- Kurt Komell | Dance the Light | Autumn 2023
- Robert Seidel | veneer#1 und veneer#2 | Autumn 2023
- Sabrina Ratté | Florescendi | Spring 2023
- Julian Loscher | Particle Animals | Spring 2022
Thanks to the artists and our partners
For the realization we thank not only the fantastic artist but also our engaged partners who accompany and support the further development of our art engagement and make this happen: JenaKultur,Huber & Treff gallery and Robert Seidel for curating our exhibitions and the LEC laser event company for the maintenance of the video mapping facility.
Read more about the video mapping technology and equipment in our blog article Video mapping for “More Light” in the city of lights, Jena.
