NIMBUS
A/V installation, Atomium, Bruxelles 2026Design & Visual : Visual System
Music: Thomas Vaquié
Production : Visual System & Atomium
Nimbus is a new monumental artwork by Visual System, created for the Atomium, inviting visitors to experience light in dialogue with sound in its most universal form.
Presented as part of the exceptional programme celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the Atomium's reopening following its renovation, Nimbus was conceived specifically to honour the singularity of this iconic Brussels landmark. A symbol of Europe, the Atomium is renowned for its distinctive architecture, originally built for the 1958 World's Fair.
The installation transforms the monument's geometry: the Atomium's original tubes are reimagined as monumental columns that give rise to an inhabited, living enclosure, while the building's signature mirrored spheres proliferate across the surrounding surfaces, disrupting spatial and temporal perception around these towering totems.
About The Music :
Nimbus's music takes as its starting point a text drawn from a 1957 documentary on the construction of the Atomium, directed by Roger Hebbelinck and E. Salu.
Adapted and recited in several languages, this text gives the melody its universal character.
Nimbus's music is composed of several recurring motifs that intertwine, answer one another, and interlock, each fitting into the next in a shared pursuit of harmony and celebration.