6th March – 31^st May 2015

After handing over our tickets to be verified, the steward pointed us in the direction of an entrance. Upon entering, our senses were immediately struck with the darkness of the interior. The lights were low, the room was empty of people, and we were confronted with a circular floor-to-ceiling installation. However, this is not just any normal installation. Utilising both water and light in a captivating way, DGT’s (Dorell, Ghotmeh, Take) Light in Water is a magical sight. It actually takes a couple of seconds to register what is occurring in this otherworldly spectacle. Falling from the ceiling is a cascading waterfall, which is illuminated with the continual changing strength of lights, creating an ethereal experience for the viewer. Intensifying the experience further, visitors can walk into the very centre of the installation, becoming one with the piece. The exquisite combination of light and water makes the water droplets seem light graceful falling diamonds. Opening the exhibition, DGT’s Light in Water truly sets the tone for the rest of the show, creating a continual enigmatic atmosphere which is maintained throughout the upcoming works.

Welcome to ‘Lumières: The Play of Brilliants’ exposition at the Eléphant Paname. Arranged throughout various rooms of the building, beginning with DGT’s Light in Water one continues the journey by ascending upwards through the building.

This is an exposition all about sensory experience, and the ways in which one can encounter and participate in the perception of the works on display. On show are eleven different light installations, varying from size, medium and meaning.

Another incredible work worth mentioning in depth is Soo Sunny Park’s mystical installation, Unwoven Light. Suspended from the ceiling, Unwoven Light is an enormous sculpture composed of reflective diamonds made from dichroic Plexiglas of varying colours and transparency. Similar to DGT’s Light in Water, and of course the other installations on display, Unwoven Light is a truly sensory experience. The wave-like sculpture manipulates the light in the room, to reflect and refract the light in a multitude of incredible ways. Reverberating off the walls are a plethora of multi-coloured and rainbow-like illuminations, transforming the whole room into a jewel. Unquestionably, this is a very poignant and sensory installation, with every viewer’s encounter different. The ethereal quality of the work certainly confirms Soo Sunny Park’s ultimate object of the piece:

“We don’t notice light when looking so much as we notice the things light allows us to see. Unwoven Light captures light and causes it to reveal itself, through colorful reflections and refractions on the installation’s surfaces and on the gallery floor and walls.”

 

In the adjacent room, visitors are presented with Flynn Talbot’s sculpture, Primary. Installed onto the back wall, the viewer is presented with the work face on. At first glance, Primary looks as if a two-dimensional work that creates the illusion of being a three-dimensional piece. However, on further inspection, Primary is actually constructed with protruding projections, 121 spikes to be correct.

However, this piece is not only about light. For Talbot, one of the main intentions of the work was to explore the ways in which we experience colour through light. Projecting primary colours, which are then lit via different sources of LED lights; red, blue and green all blend to create different combinations. As Talbot states, “Colour in light is different to paint for example… the wall sculpture is designed to break up the light and explore the mixing of colour.”

Flynn Talbot’s Primary is ultimately a work wherein light and the object are inherent to one another, working in unison to provide an engaging visual experience. Continuously transforming into a variety of colours, there is something mesmerising and hypnotic about Primary.

Overall, Eléphant Paname’s ‘Lumières: The Play of Brilliants’ exposition is intended to make the viewer engage with the various installations on show. With the aim of stimulating the senses, ‘Lumières: The Play of Brilliants’ is a brilliant exhibition that shows the blurring of the boundaries between art and technology, but also the material qualities of the work and the immaterial nature of light.

You can see more of the photos that I took whilst at the ‘Lumières: The Play of Brilliants’ exhibition here over my Flickr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/roisingrace/sets/72157649247395563/

For more information about the exposition, click here: http://www.elephantpaname.com/fr/programmation/lumieres