Tired of "a town people have to leave in order to feel the sun", artist Martin Anderson (pictured) conceived the idea of an artwork called the "Solspeil", or sun mirror. Mirrors installed on the mountain would reflect sunlight to shine down on the town square. Do you need some exposure to the sun to be content?

Anderson was encouraged by learning of a sports stadium in Arizona that used small mirrors to reflect the sun to keep grass growing; places in the Middle East that used tracking mirrors to reflect sunlight to heat steam turbines; and an Italian village, Viganella (pictured) that utilized a sun mirror. Have you ever been anywhere that used mirrors to reflect the sun for light or heat?

In 2013, a German company helicoptered 3 giant mirrors to the chosen spot on the mountain where they were installed. They provided a 2,000 sq ft concentrated circle of light focusing a beam 80-90% as bright as the sun. The solar-powered, computer-controlled mirrors tilt and rotate to follow the sun across the sky. Would you have been thrilled to see the winter sun in the town square for the first time?

The idea of lighting up the square was first considered by the town's founder, Sam Eyde in 1913. Eyde (whose statue is in the photo) had created what was at that time the world's biggest power plant, by harnessing the power of the Rjukanfossen waterfall. A factory worker suggested a system of mountaintop mirrors to redirect the sun. Are you surprised that the idea was first suggested over a hundred years ago?

The "Solspeil" (sun mirror) is sometimes viewed as art, a technical project, or a marketing tool. Anderson's friend Daniel Larsen has said it's, "A work of art with a real, vital function, fulfilling a basic need in people's lives". Do you agree?