Lights! Let the show begin!

Today, the much anticipated new exhibition at the Hayward Gallery on London's South Bank opened: LIGHT SHOW. And what a show it was! Now that all Christmas decorations have disappeared from London's high streets and shops, an infuse of light was much needed to battle the darkness outside. 

 

This exhibition drives away gloominess. And if all that blinking, buzzing, and sparkling of the artworks does not put a twinkle in your eye, their ingenuity sure has to! Some of the pieces I saw were pure brilliance, both literally and figuratively. The manner in which these artists employ light to create illusions, atmosphere and perception is beyond compare! 

This exhibition is a must if you live in or are visiting London! It runs until the 28th of April!

Let me give you a sneak preview of what you can see. There are no videos or pictures that can do the artworks full justice, so if you can I would advise you to go experience the brilliance yourself!

The exhibition opens with Leo Villareal's Cylinder II (2012) of which its 19,600 white LED lights shine in ever-changing patterns and showers you with sparkle as of falling star dust. 

Jim Campbell's Exploded View (Commuters) really amazed me! "His 'exploded views' conflate elements of sculpture and cinema, stretching the moving image and the position of the viewer. Seen from most perspectives, the works appear as a random array of lights that blink on and off. But from a certain distance and angle, a discernible image emerges. In the case of Exploded View (Commuters) (2011), the impression of shadowy figures that dissolve and resolve as the viewer moves around is created by more than a 1000 LED bulbs. Each light flickers as a pixel, collectively they appear to coalesce as an image." from the LIGHT SHOW booklet. 

Carlos Cruz-Diez' Chromosaturation puts you as spectator in three monochrome situations. Fierce Blue, Red and Green lights act with all their force on the walls, objects and the viewers. "For the artist, colour does not consist of pigment on a solid surface, but it is a situation caused by the projection of light, and the way in which the light is perceived by the human eye. Colour becomes a situation happening in space" from the LIGHT SHOW booklet. 

Panoramic view of Carlos Cruz-Diez' 3 monochrome lighted rooms

Philippe Parreno's Marquee (2011) acting as an 'electric tiara' for Ann Veronica Janssen's Rose (2007)(don't you just love the word 'electric tiara by which they refer to the illuminated marque!!! :) )

Philippe Parreno's Marquee (2011)

Ann Veronica Janssen's Rose (2007)

Olafur Eliasson's Model for a timeless garden (2011) in which fountains are lit by stroboscopic lamps in an otherwise completely dark room, gives you the impression that your eyes are transformed into slow shutters. The flashing stroboscopic lamps create an effect of frozen images. Very cool! Because of the intermittent lighting, a panoramic picture produces the effect of a barcode :)

Panoramic view of Olafur Eliasson's Model for a timeless garden

Still of Olafur Eliasson's Model for a timeless garden

These were only a couple of the 25 art works you can go see, to

 find more information go to the Hayward Gallery's website

(all pictures and videos made by myself)

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