Bridge 3: Concept Pitch

Project description:

Researching the topic of “Truth” you will create either a monument or public art piece based off of your Seminar research findings. You can use any material to create prototype/first integration can be a small scale example or one element from the overall idea. Your monument or public art piece can take any form including but not limited to: sculpture, performance, video, zine, or mural.

Research:

The Form & Function of Lighting

Lighting is the foundation to our vision, the most powerful of our senses. Light is visible radiant energy, revealing our world in all its shapes and colors to us. Electric light came into existence around 1880 with the development of the carbon filament light bulb. Advances in lighting technology in the early twentieth century led to the development of luminaires, or light fixtures. Light fixtures provide a path for electricity to power a light bulb and our fixtures allow for visual activity day or night, enhance our décor, create a mood, and even provide safety in otherwise hard-to-see environments. While initially light fixtures were utilitarian, over the past 125 years they have evolved into the cornerstones of all built environments. Light fixtures not only allow us to see, but they also provide character, charm, and ambiance in our spaces.

From bulbs to neon and fluorescent tubing to LEDs and other electronic creations, artists are using light—as material and subject—to comment on everything from advertising to spirituality.

Public light installation art is an art form in which either a sculpture produces light, or light is used to create a “sculpture” through the manipulation of light, colors, and shadows. These sculptures can be temporary or permanent, and can exist in two distinctive spaces: indoor galleries, such as museum exhibits, or outdoors at events like festivals. Light art can be an interaction of light within an architectural space. Light artists are those that devote all their creative experimentation to light art, some artists experiment with light and neon signage and use light in their practice.