Light art

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Olafur Eliassons The Weather Project at Tate Modern, London, 2003.
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Light art is a form of visual art where main media of expression is light. Light has been used for architectural aesthetical effects throughout human history. However, the modern concept of light art emerged with the development of artificial light sources and experimenting modern art.[1] One of the first to use this technique was László Moholy-Nagy (1895–1946) [2][3] Examples of light art include works by Dan Flavin,[4] Olafur Eliasson,[5] James Turrell,[6] Waltraut Cooper, Aleksandra Stratimirovič, Austine Wood Comarow, Tim White-Sobieski and many others.

Contents

[edit] History

Detail of a 13th century window from Chartres Cathedral

One of the first artistic uses of light is the way in which stained glass can be used to color transmitted light, examples of this goes back to the 4th century. Most prominently seen in churches and mosques with elaborate stained glass windows.

Another use of light in art is in shadow puppetry, where projections of shadows from puppets can be used to create the illusion of moving images. A form of shadow puppetry is described as early as 380 BC by Plato in the Allegory of the cave.

All visual art of cause use light in some form, but in modern times photography and motion pictures, use of light is especially important. However, with the invention of electrical artificial light, the possibilities were expanded and many artists began using the light as the main form of expression instead of just a vehicle for other forms of art. László Moholy-Nagy (1895–1946), a member of the Bauhaus, and influenced by constructivism is regarded as one of the fathers of Light art. Light sculpture and moving sculpture are the components of his Light-Space Modulator (1922–30), which is one of the first light art pieces which also combines kinetic art.[3]

[edit] Examples

Lumino Kinetic (Lighted Art) Jewelry

Light sculptures are an intermedia and time-based art form in which sculpture or any kind of art object produces light, or the reverse (in the sense that light is manipulated in such a way as to create a sculptural as opposed to temporal form or mass). Most often light sculpture artists were primarily either visual artists or composers, not having started out directly making light sculpture. As an example artist Austine Wood Comarow[1] works with pure polarized light passing through birefringent materials to create interactive and morphing images. This art form uses no pigments whatsoever, deriving prismatic colors purely from birefringence.

Also included in the light art genre is the so-called light graffiti including projection onto buildings, arrangement of lighted windows in buildings and painting with hand-held lights onto film using time exposure. A unique project for light art can be found in front of the Osram headquarters in Munich, Germany: Seven LED stelae form as a platform for altering art projects (involving video artists such as Diana Thater and Björn Melhus, film makers such as Harun Farocki or media artists such as Art+Com[2].

[edit] The Neons Parallax Project

In Geneva, Switzerland, The Funds for Contemporary Art of the City and Canton of Geneva initiated in 2005 a project of public art. The Neons Parallax envisages the achievement of seven luminous installations, each one conceived by a different artist on the roofs of the buildings located at the edge of the Plaine de Plainpalais . The works will be built at the rate of two original creations per year (2007, 2008 , 2009 and three for 2012). The project is subventionned by the city and the canton and the buildings are graciously lended by their owners for 10 years. There is already six installations by [Sylvie Fleury (CH), Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster (F), Nic Hess (CH), Christian Jankowski (D), Jérôme Leuba (CH) and Sislej Xhafa (AL). Three additional signs, one designed by Ann_Veronica_Janssens (BE) chosen as a result of a contest by invitation, one by Pierre Bismuth (F) chosen by public contest and the last one by Christian Robert-Tissot (CH) which is a direct order of Pierre Darier from the Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch & Cie Private Bank. As well as an exhibition, a symposium on public art and a publication will take place in March 2012. See below in the gallery, the works of Sylvie Fleury (Geneva) et Jérôme Leuba (Geneva), Christian Jankowski (Germany), Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster (France) , Sislej Xhafa (Kosovo) et Nic Hess (Zurich).

[edit] Artists in light

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[edit] Gallery

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Weibel, Peter; Jensen, Gregor, eds (2006). Lichkunst aus Kunstlicht: Licht als Medium der Kunst im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert. ISBN 978-3-7757-1774-8. http://shop.zkm.de/product_info.php?products_id=198&osCsid=01fcaa2035c09c422dce3e988c079971.  Catalog for an exhibition "Light Art from Artificial Light: Light as the Medium of Art in the 20th and 21st Centuries" at the Zentrum fur Kunst und Medientechnologie in Karlsruhe, Germany (November 19, 2005 - May 1, 2006).
  2. ^ [Tate bio "László Moholy-Nagy, Tate bio". tate.org. [http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupid=999999961&artistid=1649&page=1&sole=y&collab=y&attr=y&sort=default&tabview=bio Tate bio. 
  3. ^ a b "Light Art". Kunstlexikon. Hatje Cantz Verlag. February 5, 2005. http://www.hatjecantz.de/controller.php?cmd=artdictionary&id=32. Retrieved 2011-01-17. 
  4. ^ ["Dan Flavin". MoMA. [http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=1911. 
  5. ^ Johnson, Markham (October 4, 2007). "Meet Your Maker". Time Magazine. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1668454,00.html. 
  6. ^ Kane, Carolyn (June 10, 2009). "Light Art Museumified". rhizome.org. http://www.rhizome.org/editorial/2689. Retrieved 2011-06-11. 
  • Jansen, J. (1991), 'Het Electrisch': van lamplicht tot lichtsculptuur, Museum het Princessehof, ISBN 9789071588105 .
  • Tahara, Keiichi (2001), Light, Sculpture, Photography, Editions Assouline, ISBN 9782843232626 .
  • Light Verse (short story), Isaac Asimov, September-October 1973

[edit] External links

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