I am excited to introduce this remarkable issue of CODAmagazine Light As Art V illuminating an extraordinary selection of design + art projects from all over the world. The multitude of submissions for this issue shows a magnificent variety of differing projects that have one theme in common: Light, the illumination, brightness, luminescence, glare, and glowing expressed through the use of material, concepts or the sheer natural sunlight surrounding the installation. The use of light as material takes many forms in the featured projects and it was incredible to understand each individual project as a new answer to a material that seems to be intangible at first. The solutions to ‘light as material’ that our featured artists found could not be more contrasting:

In the audio-visual installation In Girum by Pandelis Diamantides the audience encounters a dark room, a kind of sense deprivation through the absence of light, a sort of resetting of their senses before experiencing pulses of light and sound that change “the perception of the size, direction and the position of the audience in relation to the continuously changing dynamics of the space” (http://www.pandelisdiamantides.com/in-girum.html). Michael Hayden, a pioneer working with neon light in public and architectural sculptures collaborated with the glass blower Ugo Grassi and two electronic experts for his project All Things Being Equal from 1978. The sophistication and expertise needed for the time-based installation shows the high engagement of collaborative effort that brings the artist’s work into its manifestation. And the ever-changing nature of a particular urban environment in London encompasses all aspects and the entire space of possibilities that we see in the selected spectrum of works and projects from late 70s neon light installations to contemporary audiovisual works. Wilkinson Eyre Architects’ Finial Response highlights and colorfully tints recognizable urban patterns of steel fences through light created by movement of people passing by and recorded by invisible sensing technology, producing a constantly changing artwork.

The artists invite their audience into the work, to participate and transform. This involvement and invitation is a component that most of the featured projects incorporate: Light becomes touch that can change our perception.

 

Sincerely,

 

Guest Juror Dr. Anne Luther

Research Manager
Center For Data Arts, The New School