THE ART OF LIGHT: FLAVIN, TURRELL, WHEELER, HOLZER, ELIASSON & PAIK

At the forefront of a generation of artists working with new media in the 1960s, light as an artistic medium pioneered a new effort amongst installation artists to achieve an ethereal, sublime environment through their constructions. The Art of Light: Flavin, Turrell, Wheeler, Holzer, Eliasson & Paik, addresses the varied perspectives facilitated through light installations over the past half-century through the work of 6 artists, globally celebrated for their mastery of this complicated and highly emotional medium.

Original key installations that exemplify the developing relationship between light and the art world will be reproduced for this exhibition, alongside new, large-scale commissions within the Imperial Palace’s individual Pavilions. The examination of each artist represented will approach the numerous platforms (whether political, scientific, etc.) of light’s persuasion, all while exemplifying the man-made sublimity that is made possible through the universally awe-inspiring, primal relationship between light and dark.

Dan Flavin was the original light-based artist, radically limiting his materials to commercially available fluorescent tubing in standard sizes, shapes, and colors, extracting banal hardware from its utilitarian context and inserting it into the world of high art. He devised a radical new art form that circumvented the limits imposed by frames, pedestals, and other conventional means of display. Douglas Wheeler and James Turrell represent the highly influential light and space movement of Los Angeles. Their work speaks to viewers without words, impacting the eye, body, and mind with the intention of simulating a man-made spiritual awakening. Their manipulation of light allowed it to melt into its corresponding space, slipping out of sight; this in turn captured energy as a medium, taking the intent of the Italian futurists to a new fruition.  Jenny Holzer drew great inspiration from politics, infusing sublime light constructions with arresting textual content, including “abuse of power comes as no surprise” and “protect me from what I want” bringing new depth to each opposing medium andthe light installation. Olafur Eliasson’s use of light is elemental and ephemeral, infused through a man-made simulation of sublime natural events. His work navigates a space between nature and technology, the organic and the industrial. The components of these highly installations create an experience through light that is at once physical, sensory, and emotional. Finally, the work of Nam June Paik --composer, performer, and video artist-- played a pivotal role in introducing artists and audiences to the possibilities of using video based light for artistic expression. His works explore the ways the light of video images, frozen into sculptural form, can be used in various combinations to question our accepted notions of the nature of television.

A survey of these artists presents light’s installations ongoing journey through the fine art world: its slow progression from the once alerting quality of its mere presence within a fine art context, into its potential for political evocation, and finally its capability to extract the viewer’s most vulnerable and sublime reactions, bringing it to the forefront of effective contemporary art.

光的艺术： 弗拉文， 特勒尔， 惠勒， 霍尔茨， 埃利亚松和白南准

在六十年代使用新媒体创作的一代艺术家里，光作为一种创作媒介，引领了一批装置艺术家的实践活动。他们通过对光线的塑造建立起一种崇高的飘逸环境。“光的艺术：弗拉文、特勒尔、惠勒、霍尔茨 、 埃利亚松和白南准”通过六位艺术家的作品，梳理了过去半个世纪以来光线装置表达出来的不同视角。这六位艺术家在国际上均以善用光这一复杂而情绪力量强大的媒介而闻名。

本次展览将重现那些能够代表光与艺术界变化关系的早期关键作品，同时还会在太庙配殿里展出新的大型委托创作项目。对每位参展艺术家的展示不仅强调对光的信仰能够搭建起丰富多彩的平台（政治也好，经济也好），还将说明在世界各地都引人惊叹的原始的明暗关系在何种程度上可以制作出人造的崇高性和庄严感。

丹弗拉文最初就是以光线为主要创作媒材，除了标准大小、标准形状、标准颜色的工业用荧光灯管以外，其他什么材料都不用，借此将普通五金产品从它们的实用背景中抽离出来，并将其带入高雅艺术的世界。他创造了一种大胆而新鲜的艺术形式，避开了画框、基座等其他传统展示手段对作品的限制。道格拉斯惠勒和詹姆斯特勒尔则代表了在洛杉矶极富影响力的光线和空间运动。他们的作品跳过语言直接与观众对话，从视觉、身体和心灵上给人以冲击，目的在于激发一场人造的精神觉醒。经过他们的操纵，光线可以融入相应的空间，溜到视线范围以外；如此便可将能量作为一种媒介加以捕捉，让意大利未来主义者最初的立意结出新的成果。珍妮霍尔茨从政治中汲取灵感，把美妙的灯光装置与引人注目的文字内容合二为一，比如“对权力的滥用毫不稀奇”以及“保护我不受我之所欲伤害”等，为每个相对的媒介以及灯光装置增添了新的深度。奥拉维尔·埃利亚松对光的运用难以捕捉而且充满力量，往往融合在人造的宏大自然景观里。他的作品游弋在自然与技术，有机与工业之间。这些装置的不同组件通过光创造了一种既是物理的，也是感觉的、情感的体验。最后，集作曲家、演员、录像于一身的艺术家－白南准的作品在探索录像光能够如何被用来进行艺术表达方面起到了关键作用。他的作品将录像影像凝固在雕塑形式中，通过不断变换组合，探讨怎样用录像里的光来质疑我们对电视性质的现有看法。

这几位艺术家的作品展让观众看到光线装置在艺术界中持续展开的发展过程：从单纯的在场便能引起警醒效果慢慢过渡到激发政治联想的潜能，最后走向挖掘观者最脆弱、最崇高的反应，将其拉到当代艺术的前线。