Library of Light
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LIBRARY OF LIGHT AN ARTISTIC FRAMEWORK TO EXPLORE LIGHT, MATERIAL CULTURE AND SOCIAL EXPERIENCE JO JOELSON PhD 2020 LIBRARY OF LIGHT AN ARTISTIC FRAMEWORK TO EXPLORE LIGHT, MATERIAL CULTURE AND SOCIAL EXPERIENCE JO JOELSON LIBRARY OF LIGHT AN ARTISTIC FRAMEWORK TO EXPLORE LIGHT, MATERIAL CULTURE AND SOCIAL EXPERIENCE JO JOELSON A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Sunderland for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy January 2020 Fig. 1: Cover: Yoko Ono: ‘Parts of a Light House’ (1965) Indica Gallery Catalogue, photo by Iain Macmillan ©1966 Yoko Ono TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 3 1.1 Beginnings: A Framework for Research 6 1.2 Questions and Aims 6 1.3 Methodology 7 1.4 Scope and Key Terms 11 1.5 Structure of the Thesis 13 CHAPTER 2: CONTEXTUAL REVIEW 15 2.1 Introduction 16 2.2 Light in Public (Exhibitions and Festivals) 17 2.2.1 Exhibitions 17 2.2.2 Light Festivals 31 2.3 Collections, Archives, Libraries 38 2.3.1 Collections 38 2.3.2 Archives and Archival Practice 58 2.3.3 Libraries 71 2.4 Contextual Review Summary 75 CHAPTER 3: ARTIST / CURATORIAL PROJECTS 80 3.1 Introduction 81 3.2 Collaborations in Light and Sound (Radio Broadcasts) 81 3.2.1 Introduction 81 3.2.2 Radio Broadcast - Session 1 81 3.2.3 Radio Broadcast - Session 2 82 3.2.4 Radio Broadcast - Session 3 86 3.3 Researching Geographic Light 87 3.3.1 Writing Residency - Iceland 89 3.3.2 Film as Research - Iceland 90 3.4 Summary 94 CHAPTER 4: AN ONTOLOGY OF ARTISTS’ PRACTICES WITH LIGHT 96 4.1 Introduction 97 4.2 Light Typographic 98 4.3 Political Light 99 4.4 Mediating Light 106 4.5 Performance Light 117 4.6 Absent Light 123 4.7 Summary 126 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS 127 5.1 Introduction – Research Aims 128 5.2 Reflection on Research Questions 128 5.3 Contribution to Knowledge 136 5.4 Reflection on Method 137 5.5 Future Research 138 6.0 LIST OF REFERENCES 140 7.0 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 149 8.0 APPENDICES 156 8.1 Timeline 156 8.2 Practice Portfolio 157 ABSTRACT Library of Light is a framework, an imaginative construct created for researching light practice in the fields of art and design. The research is intended to contribute to the understanding of light as a medium of art, by examining its cultural history and its role in today’s new frontiers of art, design and technology. The work has been conducted through interviews with practitioners, curators, producers and other experts involved in the processes of art and performance-making using light as a central component, from the 1960s onwards. These practices include art in the form of music, theatre, performance, fine art, film, photography, holography, digital media, architecture and the built environment, some of which involve collaboration between a number of these fields and across disciplines. The aesthetics of light based practice has evolved over the past six decades as a result of advances in digital media and technology, the integral role of which present challenges for the collection, preservation and archiving of works produced. Consequently, the project has sought to identify institutions whose roles include supporting, archiving, collecting, maintaining and presenting works involving light in the public domain and to consider the challenges entailed, from production, ownership and long-term commitment, to access and distribution. Central to this research framework is the book, Library of Light (authored by the researcher) and which presents encounters with a diverse selection of artists and designers. This undertaking was in parallel with smaller artist–curatorial projects devised to test modes of engagement and spectatorship: from radio broadcasts, artist talks, to writing and filmmaking, which together constitute a response to the experiential, temporal and performative nature of light as a medium of art. The ontological categories of Political Light, Mediating Light, Performance Light and Absent Light examine light-based practice in response to the political, social and ecological landscape, as well as new and evolving technologies and interdisciplinary experimentation. The research findings furthermore reveal the importance of language and the distinctive perspectives required to address light practice through process and materiality. LIBRARY OF LIGHT: JO JOELSON 2020 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank all those who participated directly in the research process through interviews, exhibitions, radio broadcasts, films and residencies, and for the generous sharing of ideas, resources and materials that have contributed some of the most significant insights. Thank you to Professor Beryl Graham and Mike Collier for their incredible support, guidance and encouragement throughout. This research has benefited from being AHRC funded and, with additional support from the University of Sunderland, has enabled me to undertake invaluable periods of overseas research. Thank you to my publisher Lund Humphries and commissioning editor Valerie Rose, who believed in this project from the beginning and afforded the Library Of Light book the right sensibility. Thanks also to past mentors, colleagues, friends and family who have generously given their time and supported me in many projects and without whom this undertaking would have been near impossible. Special thanks to dear friends who have attended to the layout and copy-editing with absolute commitment, wit and skill. And to my son Jetson. I dedicate this text to light artists and designers across the globe. LIBRARY OF LIGHT: JO JOELSON 2 Fig. 2: Library of Light book by Jo Joelson (2019) CHAPTER 1 Introduction 1.1 Beginnings: A Framework for Research 1.2 Questions and Aims 1.3 Methodology 1.4 Scope and Key Terms 1.5 Structure of the Thesis LIBRARY OF LIGHT: JO JOELSON 2020 1.1 BEGINNINGS: LIBRARY OF LIGHT AS A FRAMEWORK FOR RESEARCH This PhD practice-based programme is informed by my background specifically working with light as an artist, designer, researcher and writer and as co-director of London Fieldworks, the collaborative, interdisciplinary art practice. London Fieldworks has over two decades produced installation, sculpture, architecture, film and publications, with projects developed from the idea of ecology as a complex interworking of social, natural and technological worlds. The practice has responded to the ways in which we interact with the environment, technology, the narratives of popular culture, the media and the close integration of art and society. In the early part of the PhD one or two of the projects were undertaken as a collaboration with London Fieldworks. Beyond this initial phase the projects were undertaken as a solo artist-curator. A ‘Timeline’ of the PhD programme and individual projects is included in the Appendices (see Appendix 8.1 and 8.2). In the early stages of my career as a lighting designer and light artist with experience of working in performance contexts (theatre, fine-art, music) I made the decision to focus on the creative use of light within a fine art context. It was evident that formal disciplinary constraints existed, not only between creative fields such as fine art, theatre and music but also between the disciplines of art and science. Working with light began to stimulate an interest in undertaking research within the field of physics and optics and working with light not only as a medium but as a subject. I initially studied the complexity of daylight and practically implemented that research; for example, a 5-year study of natural daylight and its artificial re-creation was explored in different contexts – from theatrical environments to gallery installations. This included a commission to transpose or re-create the open-air, natural daylight environment of Shakespeare’s Globe, London to the interior setting of the Globe Theatre in Tokyo. This project involved working with Japanese lighting manufacturers to develop technology to mimic daylight that could replace the existing lighting fixtures for the inside staging of performances. Experimentation with technology was often at the forefront of practical projects alongside the adoption of scientific methods and equipment. Continuing on from personal practice, the investigation of light became a subject within a number of London Fieldworks projects. This involved various approaches such as examining the role of technology and the effect of its development on the ways that both artists and scientists observe, perceive and represent natural phenomena. Projects also explored the geographical specificity of light, investigated through fieldwork and methodologies borrowed from other disciplines, involving data collection or ethnographic research. For example: collection of light data over a month-long period in the field (North east Greenland) using a spectro-radiometer which led to the development of a database and the interactive light installation Polaria (2001-2). This involved the development of a virtual daylight system and computer interface to facilitate public interaction. The project Little Earth: a solar planetary investigation (2005) involved research conducted at the Space Sciences Lab at UC Berkeley and the Space Plasma Physics Group in the Dept. of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester. This research was conducted during an LIBRARY OF LIGHT: JO JOELSON 2020 4 18-month Art/Science fellowship and resulted in the creation of a film installation that focused on the work of two scientists, instrumental in the technological developments of capturing and recording light – a fascinating journey which fundamentally changed visualization techniques in both science and art. This research was published as a paper in a special ‘Art Science’ section of Leonardo, the Journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, (2006) and in the book Little Earth, published by Black Dog (2005). Recent research has employed film as a research tool, a medium that has been used in ethnographic research since the inception of anthropology as a discipline in the late 19th century and early 20th century (the first ascent of Everest in 1922 and a few years later Robert Flaherty’s Nanook of the North shot in Canada).