Thanks to inventor Thomas Edison’s development of the light bulb over 130 years ago, most of us routinely switch on the lights when the dark draws in without a second thought, allowing us to work and play well into the ‘after hours.’ However thankfully, some artists have a different way of seeing the world around us, and it is within the Hayward Gallery’s exciting new exhibition that this insight is given recognition to.
The Light Show – simple and precise in its summary as a title – is extremely apt in its description. Artificial light in almost every perceivable imagination and more have been adopted by artists around the world to create aesthetically spell-binding works that will have its viewer transfixed.
From Carlos Cruz-Diez and his work Chromosaturation, a tantalising room of changing colours that includes the viewer within its spectrum, to Olafur Eliassons’ Model for a Timeless Garden, a dramatic strobe light water fountain that produces an ever-changing landscape frozen in a succession of unique moments, light sources have been bent counter to their traditional conventions, creating mesmerising works that go beyond acknowledging the simple beauty of illumination.
With artists work such as Anthony McCalls’ You and I, Horizontal (2005) a white beam of light is emitted from a video projector in a pitch black room from the centre of one wall across to the other; we see solid light stripped back, and appreciated for the fascinating thing that it is. Its ability to be present and yet not there at all, seen and seemingly movable yet completely untouchable, is an alluring realisation which is completely awe-inspiring.
Other pieces such as Doug Wheelers’ Untitled (1969) provides a more surreal encounter with light. A large rounded edge square bulb fixed on top of a centimeter thick yellow acrylic square is an otherworldly embodiment of it, emitting a strangely seductive hue of neon yellow/purple light. Centred within a completely white space floor to ceiling, visitors are asked to wear protective shoe wear in order to not mark the artwork and its surroundings. It’s a strange experience, that whilst initially beautiful and seemingly peaceful, holds a certain clinical atmosphere that becomes strangely unsettling.
An extensive reconsideration of our relationship to our surroundings, this exhibition will have you thinking twice the next time you switch on a light bulb.
Light Show exhibits at Hayward Gallery until April 28.
Brigitte Kowanz, Light Steps (1990-2013) ©the artist. The artist, courtesy Häusler Contemporary, München/Zürich; Galerie Krobath, Wien/Berlin; Galerie Nikolaus Ruzicska, Salzburg; Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, New York.
Ann Veronica Janssens, Rose (2007) ©the artist/DACS.
Anthony McCall, You and I, Horizontal (2005) ©the artist, courtesy of the artist and Sprüth Magers Berlin London.
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