Light art

{{Short description|Visual art using light as a medium}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}} [[File:The Light Inside by James Turrell LCCN2011631181.tiff|thumb|''The Light Inside'' by James Turrell]] [[File:Grimanesa amoros ocupante 03.jpg|thumb|'''Ocupante''' by Grimanesa Amorós]] [[File:" 14 - ITALY - Dan Flavin in Milan - Chiesa di Santa Maria Annunciata in Chiesa Rossa church - LED lightning - color emotion - colorful.jpg|thumb|right|Interior of Santa Maria Annunciata in Chiesa Rossa light installation by Dan Flavin]] thumb|Photogram by László Moholy-Nagy, 1923 [[File:Solid Light Works (47643890).jpeg|thumb|''Solid Light Works'' by Anthony McCall]] [[File:Tracey emin.jpg|thumb|"I followed you into the water knowing I would never return" by Tracey Emin]] [[File:Robert Irwin Scrim Veil Black Rectangle Natural Light Whitney 2013.jpg|thumb|''Scrim Veil—Black Rectangle—Natural Light'' by Robert Irwin]] thumb|Projection mapping (San Francisco) [[File:James Turrell At the Guggenheim 2013 NYC Shankbone.jpg|thumb|Two separate shots side-by-side looking up toward the ceiling in the middle of the Guggenheim Museum in New York during James Turrell's light exhibition ''Aten Reign''.]] [[File:Frankfurt Hauptwache Luminale.JPG|thumb|Light installation of the Luminale 2008 during the trade fair Light + Building in Frankfurt, Germany]] [[File:Sydney Opera House, vivid Sydey.JPG|thumb|right|The Sydney Opera House during Vivid Sydney (2013).]] thumb|Light art festival in Moscow, Russia thumb|''Tribute In Light'', commemorating the September 11 destruction of the Twin Towers

'''Light art''' or the '''art of light''' is generally referring to a visual art form in which (physical) light is the main, if not sole medium of creation. Uses of the term differ drastically in incongruence; definitions, if existing, vary in several aspects. Since light is the medium for visual perception, this way all visual art could be considered light art absurdly enough; but most pieces of art are valid and coherent without reflecting on this basic perceptual fact. Some approaches on these grounds also include into light art those forms of art where light is not any medium contributing to the artwork, but is depicted. Thus, luminism<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=vyiiW3uL49sC&q=%22light+art%22 Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms]</ref> may also refer to light art in the above sense, its previous usage point to painterly styles: either as an other label for the Caravaggisti in the baroque, or 19th and 20th centuries, fundamentally impressionist schools.

Concerning light as a medium of art, historically light art is confined to the use of artificial light in artworks. This culminates in the paradoxical situation in which machines producing light environments are not the artworks themselves, but the artwork is how they modulate their environments, based on the conventionally taken-for granted, thus solely reflected fact that light is what constitutes our environment.<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/29456217/More_Light_Light_Environments More Light! Light Environments, New Budapest Gallery, 2015. Cat. pp5-6]</ref>

In the broad sense, of which Gerhard Auer stated in 2004: {{blockquote|"An uncertified term: Light Art had naturalised itself recently, without being fit for a term of either a genre, nor a style: in many symbiotic relations, light plays too many roles, and artificial light made itself only the source of inspiration instead of naming it in the countless isms that are drawing on it."<ref>Auer, Gerhard: Das Lichtwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen reproduzierbarkeit, in: Brockhaus, Chistoph 2004. Stadtlicht – Lichtkunst. Stiftung Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum – Zentrum Internationaler Skulptur, Duisburg, Wienand, Köln, p66</ref>}} Any artwork containing something that emits any light may be considered as a piece of light art.

==Terms== Closest may be the Lumino kinetic art as a comprehensive term in English, in use from the 1960s. Light Art is a fairly new construction, as a mirror translation from Dutch or German: {{Lang|de|Lichtkunst}}. The pioneers of light art, being devoted to it, felt the necessity to give it certain names in order to distinguish their art from any other genres of art like painting, sculpture or photography. Even calling the art of light 'the eighth art',<ref>Finckh, Gerhard 1993. Licht-Räume (cat.) Museum Folkwang, Essen; Bauhaus, Dessau, p16</ref> Thomas Wilfred termed his works ''Lumia'' from 1919 on. László Moholy-Nagy, in his numerous writings from the 1920s on, repeatedly published on 'light architecture' or 'light plays'.<ref>Weibel 2005. p220</ref> Just before lumino-kinetics became widespread, Nicholas Schöffer labeled his own works first as 'spatial dynamic' then 'light dynamic' ({{lang|fr|luminodynamisme}}), from 1957 to end up in his 'time dynamic' phase. Frank Malina termed his artworks developed from 1956 on 'lumidyne systems'.<ref>[http://archive.olats.org/pionniers/malina/arts/lumidyneSystem.php Frank J. Malina: Kinetic painting: the Lumidyne System, Leonardo, Vol. 1, pp. 25-33; winter 1968]</ref>

==History== The first examples of modern light art appeared after the discovery of electric lighting made long-term lighting safe and affordable at the end of the 19th century. Light art, however, did not become a dedicated form of art until the late 20th century, in large part due to pioneering work begun in 1969, as part of an experimental program at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, by Robert Irwin and James Turrell.<ref name="gs">Glenn Shrum, [http://www.archlighting.com/projects/light-art-matters_o Light Art Matters - A closer look at the ideas behind the work]</ref>

===Modernism, Constructivism and the Bauhaus (1920–1935)=== {{see also|Modern art|Constructivism (art)|Bauhaus}}

Light has been used for architectural effect throughout human history. However, the modern concept of light art emerged with the development of artificial electric incandescent light sources and experimentation by modern artists of the Constructivist and Bauhaus movements.<ref name="Weibel" /> "''Prounenraum'' (''Proun Room'') (1923), by El Lissitzky, is considered by many art historians to be the first time an artist incorporated architectural lighting elements as a component integral to his work."<ref name="gs" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/08/replicas-and-reconstructions-in-twentieth-century-art | title=Replicas and Reconstructions in Twentieth-Century Art: El Lissitzky, Prounenraum 1923, reconstruction 1971 | work=Tate | access-date=31 July 2016}}</ref> The first object-based light sculpture was the ''Light-Space Modulator'' (1922–1930), by László Moholy-Nagy.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks | archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20080613012021/http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks | url-status=dead | archive-date=2008-06-13 | title=László Moholy-Nagy, Tate bio | publisher=tate.org}}</ref><ref name="Kunstlexikon" /> Experimentation and innovations in theatrical light have often influenced other areas of light use such as light art. The development of Modernism and the electric light go hand-in-hand; the idea of the modern city with high-rises and electric light epitomizes this development.

All visual art uses light in some form, but in modern photography and motion pictures, use of light is especially important. However, with the invention of electrical artificial light, possibilities expanded and many artists began using light as the main form of expression, rather than solely as a vehicle for other forms of art. Constructivist Naum Gabo experimented with the transparent materiality light reflects on an object; his ''Linear Construction No. 1'' (1943) provides an example of this.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gabo-linear-construction-no-1-t00191 | title=Linear Construction No. 1 1942–3 | publisher=Tate | access-date=31 July 2016}}</ref>

Large-scale displays of light require the collaboration of the authorities. An early example is the utilization of the majority of the searchlights of the German Air Force by Albert Speer for his Cathedral of Light, a feature of the Nazi Party rallies at Nuremberg between 1934 and 1938.<ref name="Speer">{{cite book | last = Speer | first = Albert | author-link = Albert Speer | year = 1970 | title = Inside the Third Reich | location = New York and Toronto | publisher = Macmillan | page =59 | url= https://archive.org/details/Inside_the_Third_Reich_Albert_Speer/page/n79/mode/2up | access-date=2020-08-30 }}</ref>

Art critic Hilarie M. Sheets explains that "the interplay of dark and light has been a theme running from Greek and Roman sculpture to Renaissance painting to experimental film. But as technology advanced from the glow of the electric light bulb to the computer monitor, artists have been experimenting with actual light as material and subject."<ref>Sheets, Hilarie M. "Waves of Light." ARTnews Mar. 2007: 131-33. ARTnews. Print. Web. 1 Feb. 2012. http://www.artnews.com/2007/03/01/waves-of-light/.</ref>

===Light design, Lumino kinetic and op art (1940–1970)=== {{see also|Op art|Kinetic art|Lumino kinetic art}}

The early experimental theater sets of Josef Svoboda were crafted using solely light and water vapor in the form of micro-droplets of water scrim-like fields of light. The Czech designer and scenographic engineer's use of light and light projections were influenced by Jindřich Honzl, who believed that "Light, which is the fourth dimension of stage poetry in space, is the most mobile and therefore the most theatrical of all material elements." In the 1960s he began using laser technology having received support from the Siemens Company. In the 70s he began incorporating holography in his sets, stating that "What attracted me to holography was the idea of volumetric light, without any concrete support, volumes floating in space"<ref name="Richier">{{cite journal |last1=Richier |first1=Christine |title=Svoboda and lighting design: fragments of a light discourse |journal=Theater and Performance Design |date=2020 |volume=6 |issue=3 |doi=10.1080/23322551.2020.1848200}}</ref>

===Projection mapping=== {{see also|Projection mapping}} Closely associated art forms are projectors, 3-D projection, multi-media, video art, and photography where light technology ''projects'' images rather than using light as the medium. Large light festivals and events have helped to develop the use of light on large canvases such as architectural facades, building projections, the flood lighting of buildings with colour, and interactive media facades. These forms of light art have their antecedents in new media-based, video art and photography which are sometimes classified as light art since light and movement are important to the work.{{cn|date=December 2025}}

===Digital graffiti=== {{see also|Digital graffiti}}

Also included in the light art genre is the so-called light graffiti including projection onto buildings,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://weburbanist.com/2007/09/07/architectural-light-graffiti-projection-bombing-images-on-urban-surfaces | title=Architectural Light Graffiti: Image Projection Bombing | publisher=Webist Media | access-date=31 July 2016| date=7 September 2007 }}</ref> arrangement of lighted windows in buildings, and painting with hand-held lights onto film using time exposure.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://weburbanist.com/2008/12/07/light-graffiti-art-photos | title=Luminaries: 20 Light Graffiti Artists & Photographers | publisher=Webist Media | access-date=31 July 2016| date=7 December 2008 }}</ref>

=== Light art installations === An example of a light art installation was that of artists Mel and Dorothy Tanner, who began adding light to their paintings and sculptures at their studio in Miami, Florida, in 1967. This was the same time period as that of Light and Space artists James Turrell and Robert Irwin in Los Angeles, on the opposite U.S. coast. The Tanners worked very closely for over 40 years until Mel Tanner died in 1993. Their main project was the creation of ''Lumonics'' that consists of their light sculptures, live projection, video, electronics and music as a total art installation. Author and art historian Michael Betancourt described this conceptual art as a Gesamtkunstwerk in his book ''The Lumonics Theater: The Art of Mel & Dorothy Tanner'',<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Lumonics Theater: The Art of Mel and Dorothy Tanner|last=Betancourt|first=Michael|publisher=Wildside Press|year=2004|isbn=0-8095-1193-2|location=Maryland, United States|pages=15}}</ref> published in 2004. Dorothy Tanner, born in 1923, continues her light art from her studio in Denver, and co-directs the Lumonics School of Light Art with Marc Billard.

===Museums=== Many modern art museums include light sculptures and installations in their permanent and temporary collections. The Centre for International Light Art in Unna, Germany is currently the world's only museum dedicated exclusively to the collection and presentation of light art.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/take-an-electrifying-look-inside-the-worlds-first-light-art-museum/ | title=Take An Electrifying Look Inside The World's First Light Art Museum | publisher=Vice Media Inc. | access-date=31 July 2016| date=16 July 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://light2015blog.org/2014/08/08/only-light-museum-grants-international-light-art-award/ | title=The World's Only Light Art Museum Grants the International Light Art Award 2015 | publisher=International Year of Light 2015 - Blog | access-date=31 July 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022220628/https://light2015blog.org/2014/08/08/only-light-museum-grants-international-light-art-award/ | archive-date=22 October 2016 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

The Light Art Museum in Eindhoven, Netherlands, another museum dedicated to the display of light art, closed on 5 December 2010<ref>{{citation|url=http://luminapolis.com/en/2010/11/closed-the-light-art-museum-in-eindhoven/|title=Closed: The Light Art Museum in Eindhoven|date=28 November 2010|work=Luminapolis: The World of Lighting|access-date=2016-01-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170815025213/http://luminapolis.com/en/2010/11/closed-the-light-art-museum-in-eindhoven/|archive-date=15 August 2017|url-status=dead}}.</ref> due to insufficient funding, but at the Strijp-S complex, one can see the '''Fakkel''' by Har Hollands, Daan Roosegaarde's '''Crystal''' as well as part of the light festival '''GLOW'''.<ref>'[http://www.ed.nl/extra/glow/herbeleef-glow-eindhoven-routes-en-hoogtepunten-door-de-jaren-heen-1.4075747 Herbeleef Glow Eindhoven: Routes en hoogtepunten door de jaren heen]', ''Eindhovens Dagblad''.</ref><ref>'[http://www.ed.nl/extra/glow/licht-zien-voelen-en-zelfs-opslaan-op-glow-next-1.4615697 Licht zien, voelen en zelfs opslaan op Glow Next]', ''Eindhovens Dagblad''.</ref>

Many well-known art museums, such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, often have temporary light art exhibits and installations in their galleries.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfmoma.org/exhibition/jim-campbell/|title=Jim Campbell|website=SFMOMA|access-date=2016-08-10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/31?locale=en|title=Take your time: Olafur Eliasson {{!}} MoMA|website=The Museum of Modern Art|access-date=2016-08-10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfmoma.org/press/release/sfmoma-celebrates-artist-leo-villareal-in-anticip/|title=SFMOMA CELEBRATES ARTIST LEO VILLAREAL IN ANTICIPATION OF LIGHT INSTALLATION ON BAY BRIDGE|website=SFMOMA|access-date=2016-08-10}}</ref>

===Light festivals===

Light art festivals are public events that transform urban environments with large-scale light-based artworks, including sculptures, projections, and interactive installations. The modern era of light art festivals is often traced to the Festival of Lights (Lyon) in France, first held in 1999,<ref name="noor2024">[Add reference here]</ref> which inspired similar events worldwide. Over the following decades, light art festivals became an important platform for artists to create temporary, site-specific works that combine artistic vision with technological innovation. Many festivals incorporate themes such as cultural heritage, community engagement, and environmental awareness.{{cn|date=December 2025}}

Notable examples include the Vivid Sydney festival in Australia, launched in 2009,<ref name="vivid2009">[27]</ref> the i Light Marina Bay festival in Singapore (Asia's only sustainable light festival, launched in 2010),<ref name="ilight2010">[28]</ref> the Signal Festival in Prague, the Ghent Light Festival in Belgium, and Noor Riyadh in Saudi Arabia—one of the largest light art festivals in the world, attracting over 3 million visitors in 2024.<ref name="noor2024">[Add reference here]</ref> Light art festivals have grown into a distinct art form, merging contemporary artistic practice with advances in lighting technology, and are now celebrated in cities across the globe.<ref name="lightartgenre">[29]</ref>

{{see also|Festival of Lights (Lyon)|Vivid Sydney|Light + Building|GLOW Festival Eindhoven|Light Art Biennale Austria 2010|Lux Helsinki|i Light Marina Bay|Lichtstadt Feldkirch|Llum BCN}}

== Artists working with light ==  {{columnslist|colwidth=25em| * Grimanesa Amoros * Jim Campbell * Olafur Eliasson * Cerith Wyn Evans * Meeli Kõiva * Tracey Emin * Dan Flavin * HC Gilje * Jenny Holzer * Robert Irwin * Ann Veronica Janssens * Brigitte Kowanz * Glenn Ligon * Tom Lloyd * Rafael Lozano-Hemmer * Sergio Valle Duarte * Anthony McCall * Tatsuo Miyajima * François Morellet * Ivan Navarro * Maria Nordman * Maja Petric * Bruce Munro * Otto Piene * Daan Roosegarde * Keith Sonnier * Josef Svoboda * Mel and Dorothy Tanner * James Turrell * Leo Villareal * Tim White-Sobieski * Austine Wood Comarow }}

==See also== {{Portal|Visual arts}} *Noor Riyadh *Sharjah Light Festival *LED art *Light painting *Snow lantern *Lightpainting *Kunsthalle Detroit – a light art institution *Minimalism *Dan Flavin *François Morellet *James Turrell *Robert Irwin

==References== <references> <ref name=Weibel>{{cite book |editor1-last=Weibel |editor1-first=Peter |editor2-last=Jensen |editor2-first=Gregor |editor1-link=Peter Weibel |year=2006 |title=Lichkunst aus Kunstlicht: Licht als Medium der Kunst im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert |publisher=Distributed Art Pub Incorporated |isbn=978-3-7757-1774-8 |url=http://shop.zkm.de/product_info.php?products_id=198&osCsid=01fcaa2035c09c422dce3e988c079971 |archive-date=15 December 2017 |access-date=18 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215053843/http://shop.zkm.de/product_info.php?products_id=198&osCsid=01fcaa2035c09c422dce3e988c079971 |url-status=dead }} Catalog for an exhibition "Light Art from Artificial Light: Light as the Medium of Art in the 20th and 21st Centuries" at the ''Zentrum fur Kunst und Medientechnologie'' in Karlsruhe, Germany (19 November 2005 – 1 May 2006).</ref>  <ref name=Kunstlexikon>{{cite web |url=http://www.hatjecantz.de/controller.php?cmd=artdictionary&id=32 |title=Light Art |work=Kunstlexikon |publisher=Hatje Cantz Verlag |date=5 February 2005 |access-date=2011-01-17 |archive-date=20 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520221356/http://www.hatjecantz.de/controller.php?cmd=artdictionary&id=32 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  </references>

== Further reading == *{{citation | last = Jansen | first = J. | isbn = 978-90-71588-10-5 | publisher = Museum het Princessehof | title = 'Het Electrisch': van lamplicht tot lichtsculptuur | year = 1991}}. *{{citation | last = Tahara | first = Keiichi | isbn = 978-2-84323-262-6 | publisher = Editions Assouline | title = Light, Sculpture, Photography | year = 2001}}. *JanLeonardo Woellert & Joerg Miedza - Painting With Light: Light Art Performance Photography, Rocky Nook; 1 Edition (10 April 2011), {{ISBN|978-1933952741}}. *Crisafulli, Fabrizio. 2013. ''Active Light. Issues of Light in Contemporary Theatre'', Dublin: Artdigiland. {{ISBN|978-1494786922}}.

==External links== {{Commons}} *[http://www.lichtkunst-unna.de/en/start-page.html Centre for International Light Art (CILA), Unna] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825174036/http://www.lichtkunst-unna.de/en/start-page.html |date=25 August 2017 }} *[http://www.lichtrouten.de/ International Forum of Light in Art and Design] *[http://kunsthalle-detroit.org International Center for Contemporary Art dedicated to multimedia and light art] *[http://hosting.zkm.de/lightart/stories/storyReader$7# Light art from Artificial Light]{{Dead link|date=October 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }} *[http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/07/14/let-there-be-light-light-paintings-and-sculptures/ Smashing Magazine ''Let There Be Light: Light Paintings and Sculptures''] *[http://www.psy.in/ Galleries of Light-Art Association, by Kalos Fund, Scotland] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110722041417/http://www.luceonline.it/ Luceonline.it], the cultural portal of light and new technologies *[http://www.oslolux.no Oslo Lux]

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