On February 28th I went the Hayward Gallery's LIGHTSHOW. I thought to write about it incase anyone has been/if anyone is free to go before it ends (28 April)/ if anyone cant go.
'Lightshow' explores the experimental use of light as Art, looking at how light has been used 'to sculpt and shape space' in different ways. Bringing together the work of 22 artists (spanning from the 60s to present day), the viewer experiences this through interactive environments, free-standing sculptures and projections spread across the Hayward galleries.
Although not all the works are interactive, the participatory nature of the exhibition seemed noticeably higher than other more conventional exhibited art mediums. It was fascinating to watch as all age groups regressed - crawling, touching, looking and experiencing the work with heightened wonder. On reflection perhaps this 'heightened wonder' I observed in my own & others response to the work is down to multiple factors: the aesthetic beauty of the works, (for many) the alien perception of light as an art form, and the desire to claim a tangible experience over an intangible medium.
The exhibition illustrates the power light has to change our state of mind and our perception of how we encounter space and the world around us (something that goes unnoticed on a day-to-day basis). With the relationship between light and space being arguably the key element of the exhibition, curating the show (curating light) must have been quite a challenging but exciting experience; ensuring that each work could be encountered independently, without interfering with one another.
This post is something I want to re-visit and develop after research on the exhibition of intangible artwork.
Tweet response off the shows Curator Cliff Lauson:
Great post Rosa. It is interesting how some exhibitions do just seem to 'work' in terms of audience engagement. You also might want to have a look at Stephen Greenblatt's 'Resonance and Wonder'..... (available through JStor).
ReplyDeleteYes we looked at that reading during The Museum module! Would be interesting to consider the LIGHTSHOW in relation to that text, especially Greenblatts discussion (from what I can remember) about lighting in the gallery space & its association with 'boutique lighting' and consumerism.
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