Light! 1 is a performance lecture created in responce to research done by the artist on light as an institutional tool. The lecture is split into six parts, performed across a digital and overhead projector. Each section starts with a piece of fiction performed on the overhead projector, followed by an informational section performed on the digital. 2019.




Script:

1. Paintings
• Judith did not abide the sun - a fact obligatory to many: Caravaggio, Gentileschi, Rubens, Klimt, Furini, Baglione. In her anger, she produced her own radiance. Light-atoms emanated from her and danced upon her maids face, upon her blade as she took Holofernes. On him as his own light dimmed. These painters knew that myth follows no rules. That the brain will disregard physics if you are convincing enough
• The myth goes that Judith seduced the tyrant king Holofernes. In the dead of night, as he was in a drunken slumber, Judith decapitated him, and brought his head back to her people. This popular topic for classical painting often called for the artist to abandon a light source, as the content of the painting called for more than a logical light source could provide. In turn, Judith is often illuminated, with her maid in shadows beside her, and the face of Holofernes dimming. For centuries, artists have been manipulating light as either an aspect, or material in there work. Artists, however, aren't the only ones manipulating light to their advantage. The light around us is often as carefully thought out as those in a painting. How are we affected by this glow?
2. Secrets
• This love I have for you. The butterflies in my stomach have laid. I am here with you, In central park. A street lamp is barely seeping through the trees. It is just me and you. Only cold glares sneak under the leaves, but it is not enough to stop me and you. With one hand I undo your belt and bend down. Under this tree, even the lights of the heavens do not reach. Baby, it’s all you. It’s all for you.
• There are two aspects of light visible to us. The source, and the surface it hits. However, this inbetween, the airspace in which it primarily inhabits, is invisible to us. Because of this, light often takes on both material and immaterial qualities. Light can completely transform the way we react to a space, yet we often take it for granted. It is the messenger for all visual information we intake, yet we never question it's motives. By looking at what is producing the light, where it is going to, and it’s specific qualities, we can uncover certain truths.
3. Visibility
• Oh-oh my god - I’m so sorry. I just didn’t see you there. I thought you were like a jacket, or maybe a backpack...and you are just so compact - like a folding chair. Apparently a piece of paper can only be folded eight times - how many joints do we have again? Again, I’m so so sorry, it’s just so dark. I can’t see anything. Can I buy you anything, maybe a sandwich or something? Mcdonalds? A dollar? I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again.
• In institutional settings, light is often used to control space, and the movements of those who inhabit it. A helpful example of this is the trend of using blue light in publicly accessible spaces. This is an image of glasgow at night: cobalt colored lamps. Blue light has been known to cause subconscious associations with the sky and the sea, and is credited to calm people down. It is hypothosized that installing blue street lamps could lower suicide rates. Blue lights also make it harder to find the veins in your arm. This in theory deters Injectable drug users from shooting up in bathrooms with blue bulbs. That same association with the sky also makes it much harder to sleep, deterring homeless from resting in parks lit with the color. If we go to downtown Providence, Rhode Island, we can see an example of light being used to manipulate a setting. The string lights that hang across Weybosset add aesthetic appeal to the commercial street. They also serve the double purpose of further illuminating the sidewalk at night, making it harder to act unobserved.
4. Sci-fi
• Here down in the underbelly we have a spot lovingly called the parhelion strip. It’s a sort of public space situated between all the canopied street/tunnels and LED sky-murals. By either divine providence or miracle of planning, a ray of sunlight seeps through the cloudscraper penthouses, through the filtermalls and hyperfloat-ways onto us. If you’re on the in, you know that this coveted sunspot is really an expertly planned xenon arc lamp, a marvel of psychology, One which is better kept a secret.
• In any large city, a coveted quality is “Natural Light”. The looming shadows of skyscrapers and the density of space between buildings adds a distinct challenge for city planners: How does one zone so that all people have access to a ray of sun? This photo is of NYU facilities built on the historic Washington Square Park. This is the shadow it casts. In cities, air space can be bought separately from land. England's “right to light” Guarantees long term property owners consistent level of illumination through their windows. Vancouver’s towers are carefully planned in hopes that all have a small portion of the sunset to view. Going into the future, as humanity expands, how will the resource of sunlight be treated. Who will get primary access to it? how will it be distributed?
5. Holy Flame
• If the holy ark is an ark, what does that make me? On my wooden bench, am I a passenger on this ship? Where is my oar? And what of the eternal flame. Is it the sun, the North Star? I’ve been told it burns forever. What if there is a blackout, will it supernova? Will there be no more North? Is it battery powered?
• A moment in which all aspects of light become visible is when the sun shines through a Stained glass window. Not only is the glass illuminated, it is also cast across the space, filling it with color, and communicating the glory of god to those inside. This is one of the few moments in which light, it’s source, and the association between the two become obvious, as does the lights role in a system. A church window is one of the very few examples where the intention behind the manipulation of light is not hidden. In stained glass, the mysteries of light are laid bare, but only a fraction of them. As I try to answer my own questions, I raise a new one every word. I encourage all of us to be cognisant of the spaces of light we pass through.
6. Ending
• The horror of the stage is ungraspable. In its numerousness, it’s baffling. Do all lamps feel like this, as they reflect radiantly, do all they see is white? I have tripped, and my aura surrounds me