Light Show @ The MCA

Light Show-inset

Funfairs have been a popular part of western culture for hundreds of years. They are places where adults have permission to be amazed, where seeing isn’t always believing and the rational mind can be put on hold.

LIGHT SHOW at the MCA is a fairground entertainment experience that challenges our perceptions using visual tricks and spectacle. LIGHT SHOW is a 60 year survey of how artists from all over the world have used artificial light to create sculptures to explore and challenge our senses. It impacts the visitor on the most basic psychological level and leaving the rational behind, viewers are left thinking ‘Am I seeing what I think I am seeing?’

The show is based on a larger body of works curated for the Hayward Gallery in London (2013). The pieces in Sydney have been chosen for the smaller MCA gallery which has been reorganised into separate spaces as these works naturally lend to individualised viewing, walking through the show means you are constantly surprised and filled with expectation by what may be around the next corner.

Artificial light as a medium is incredibly broad. This breadth is reflected in the technical range from fluorescent tubes to computer modelling and LEDs. Despite this variety, there is a feeling that the works are more than 2D objects on the wall, they have a sense of structure. Cliff Lauson curator of the Hayward exhibition narrowed the selection using this criteria and has said that “two dimensional illuminated artworks as well as art as signage was excluded in order to focus on the crossover of spatial and visual awareness that is only available with 3D or immersive works.” Reading the Hayward book on the exhibition there is also surprisingly a wide range of intellectual themes behind many works such as materialism, cosmology, and surveillance, however these tend to be hidden behind the 3D light spectacle.

The first artwork of the exhibition sits in an alcove about 3 metres wide by 3 metres deep. It is by American artist Jim Campbell Exploded View (Commuters) 2011. The work is made with more than 1000 LED lights suspended from the ceiling in a 3D grid of wires all controlled by a customised electronic circuit board designed by the artist.

At first glance, the glittering mass of LEDs appear to be flickering on and off in a random sequence but when viewed from a certain angle they become people walking. The sense of movement is the main feature of the images – even more than the light – it draws the eye and the work becomes an exercise in perception which travels from confusing to satisfying once the quick moving figures have been discerned.

Despite the use of modern technology, Campbell’s artwork is a reaction against the high-tech, detailed-based world we live in. The artist explains it as “a form of primal communication in that they bypass the analytical parts of your brain…the low resolution leaves the work open to this more primitive, motion-based perception.” Within the context of the show, this play on perception is felt rather than intellectualised. There is no time to reflect as the next light spectacle unfolds ahead of you.

In a similar way, Brigitte Kowanz’s work Light Steps 1990/2013 which consists of only 11 fluorescent lights, is also about perception and our brain’s limbic reaction to what we see.

Kowanz’s work aims to explore architectural space by creating the perception of a staircase using light. Spanning 7 metres, each fluorescent bulb represents a step that leads up to the ceiling. Walking down the corridor where the lights are placed, one has an automatic pull to walk up the stairs. The confusion in this case is not about recognition but about the rational mind needing to halt an automatic reaction. However, like Campbell’s piece, rather than reflect on any layered meaning in the work it is more a simple feeling of delight at the parlour trick the artist played on your mind.

This delight is replayed through the exhibition and is one of the reasons why it is popular with families. The experience feels more like a visit to a hall of mirrors than a standard visit to an art gallery, a walk around the LIGHT SHOW on any day will see children whispering “Amazing!” and their parents enthusiastically agreeing.

The goal of LIGHT SHOW according to Ralph Rugoff Director of the Hayward Gallery is to push boundaries of sculpture and “…the qualities and limits of our perception”.  The show is extremely successful in achieving this aim. However, the appeal of the show – the delight of the unexpected driven by the dynamic light spectacle makes it  an immersive and thrilling ride based on our basic senses and hides many of the deeper meanings the artists attach to their works. If you want more than the spectacle, research some of the artists beforehand (the free catalogue gives limited detail). Otherwise if you are open to the ride and are happy to put your rational mind on hold, you will enjoy this exhibition.

LIGHT SHOW is exhibiting at the Museum of Contemporary Arts  until the 5th  of July. For more information visit http://www.mca.com.au.

Bibliography

Bad at Sports, 2011, ‘Interview with Jim Campbell’, Episode 326, Web, viewed May 2, 2015. http://badatsports.com/2011/episode-326-jim-campbell/

Curiel, J 2014, ‘Artist Jim Campbell takes over an S.F. Gallery with fluttering LEDs’, SF Weekly, 1 January 2014, Web, viewed May 2, 2015. http://www.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/artist-jim-campbell-takes-over-an-sf-gallery-with-fluttering-leds/Content?oid=2828692

Fuchs, R 2010, ‘Brigitte Kowanz’, Flash Art, Vol.XLIII, No.273, pp. 72-74.

Lauson, C 2013, ‘Light Art: An Immaterial Material’, Light Show, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

‘Light Show’, Australian Arts Review, 21 Apr. 2014, Web, viewed May 5, 2015. http://artsreview.com.au/light-show/

Rugoff, R 2013, ‘Forward’, Light Show, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Sutton, B 2014, ‘Why is Jim Campbell’s Low-Res Video Art So Compelling, Even Captivating?’, Artnet.com, 2 Apr.2014, Web, viewed May 13, 2015. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/why-is-jim-campbells-low-res-video-art-so-compelling-even-captivating-8270