Reading Reflection 1: Light and Space

The first two articles emphasized the combination of light and environment. Artists no longer only study how to emit distinctive light, but how the light echoes the surrounding environment, and how to use the environment to enrich the artistic effect of light. The audience is contained in a magnetic field composed of light and environment so that the sensory stimuli they are subjected to are combined and become more diverse.

The third article states that light and space artworks create a phenomenological experience by reducing distractions and distracting of attention. This experience enables the viewer to better perceive and engage with the work by focusing attention on something that has little to notice. This experience fits in with the ideas of American pragmatic philosophy and neurophenomenology, both of which emphasize the study and understanding of phenomena through direct experience.

In the first reading, James Turrell often uses natural light as his medium, creating holes or openings in walls or ceilings that allow natural light to enter the space. He also uses artificial lighting to create specific effects and color combinations. His installations often create an illusion of infinite space or a sense of weightlessness, immersing the viewer in an experience of transcendence and contemplation. Olafur Eliasson’s installations often play with the perception of light and space, using mirrors, lenses, and other optical devices to manipulate and distort the viewer’s experience.

In the third reading, one of Doug Wheeler’s works is a square neon sign installed inside a white room, filling the room with a faint purple light. The viewer’s distance from the square will affect what they see. This transitional moment “divides time and space” between the surreal sense of light suspension and the perception of the real world.

What these three artists have in common is that they all use some artistic means, such as the layout of architectural structures, and the objects that transmit and reflect light, to enrich the visual effects that can be displayed by a single light, and interact them with the audience’s senses to form an unusual experience. I hope that in my future creations, light and space are simple when viewed individually, but the light can decorate a space and make them complement each other when combined. To think more boldly, what if we could create a space full of light but with the light source hidden. Break the audience’s habits and common sense, so that they can only feel that they are in a colored or bright space, and will not go because a certain place is shining, so the space will be in front of the touch.

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