In the world of interior design, light serves as an essential medium, but light can also create immersive public spaces. While James Turrell, Olafur Eliasson, and Dan Flavin are celebrated for their transformative mastery of color, reflections, and luminous contrasts, it's crucial to note that the realm of light art isn't exclusively male-dominated. In response to the underrepresentation of female light artists, a refreshing and enlightening perspective emerges from the British lighting designers Sharon Stammers and Martin Lupton of Light Collective.
After founding the platform "Women in Lighting" their book "Women Light Artists," takes a bold step in introducing us to 40 creative women whose work radiates with responsive ingenuity and brilliance. The book offers a captivating spectrum of projects from interactive pools to the play of colorful daylight shadows dancing across a bridge in London, from the peaceful projection onto an iconic Berlin landmark to the vivid rainbow arching above Manhattan's skyline, each work embodies a unique dialogue between light and space. The luminous journey offers a valuable tribute to the power of female artists who, for far too long, have remained in the shadows.
Jen Lewin
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Cities Light Up in Solidarity with UkraineThe New York-based artist Jen Lewin (*1974, USA) has a passion for large-scale interactive installations in public spaces: "Great art has the potential to become a platform to bring people together to create, engage and inspire community and to encourage and support active participation." Her project "The Pool" excellently embodies this understanding with a giant field of concentric circles that swirl with light when activated by stepping on. The playful concept motivates grownups and kids to jump and run as they drag a light trail behind them. In addition, Lewin can push a button to change the general color scheme to a different vibrant color composition thereby inducing surprising moments that let the visitors stop for a moment. The Pool has traveled to numerous exhibitions in more than 20 countries since 2008.
Claudia Paz
With a background in architecture, Claudia Paz (1970, Peru) became fascinated by the medium light and often works with a combination of color and sound. The "Pixel Flow" from 2015, creates a circle of vertical pixel lines in a private zone in a larger park in Lima enabling people to interact with light and each other. With each gesture of the participants, the patterns of color evolve and move. The generative audio system responds accordingly with a dynamic soundtrack unique to each user's experience.
Liliane Lijn
Numerous institutions like The Tate or the Victoria and Albert Museum have collected works by the London-based artist Liliane Lijn (1939, New York), who spent her early career in Paris in the early 1960s. Her protective circle "Temenos" from 2021, at Granary Square in London, can be seen as a metaphor for the dependency that all living beings, from humans to the simplest species, have connections to each other. Nine poles on each side progressively decrease in length. The two tallest poles lean towards and connect with the central pole. Each subsequent pole on the two sides leans on a higher pole.
Ling-Li Tseng
Ling-Li Tseng (1985, Taiwan) links her interest in design with teaching the next generation of creators at the university. With a master's in architecture and design from Cooper Union and Harvard University her work oscillates between the realm of fantasy and practicality creating a dialogue between the artificial and the natural. "The Search of the Glow" (2020) installation was made for the Taiwan Lantern Festival leaving the smaller traditional hanging lanterns behind to enter a hollow pinecone in a forest. The clear wooden lines enhanced with light lines on the inside combine a romantic sense with digital construction technology.
Liz West
The British artist Liz West (1985, United Kingdom) mixes luminous colors and radiant light. Her fascination with color reflections is visible in numerous interior and exterior works consisting of large groups of colored acrylic discs, bands, or bowls. New colors emerge when looking from one translucent object through the other or when colored shadows fall on the ground or reflect onto surrounding surfaces. "Hundreds and Thousands" (2021) is part of the riverside park The Tide in London featuring public art installations. The colored shadows of the multiple reflective glass stripes change with the course of the sun. The vibrant impression is heightened by the irregular ribbon arrangement and waiving the attempt of a layout with exact vertical stripes.
Motoko Ishii and Akari-Lisa Ishii
The pioneer of lighting design in Japan Motoko Ishii (1938, Japan) collaborates in selected projects with her daughter Akari-Lisa Ishii (1971, Japan), who founded her own lighting design studio in Paris and Tokyo. The Japanese Embassy in Germany invited the team to create a celebratory light show in Berlin to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between Germany and Japan. "Light Message for Peace" (2011) referred to the peaceful path overcoming the separation of Germany in East and West. 2011 was also the 75th anniversary of the Berlin Olympics during the Nazi dictatorship. The different languages visible on the Brandenburg Gate were linked to official public languages in the Olympics at that time. The animation combined a projection of the earth and the word peace on the attic and frieze with a colorful illumination of the Doric columns.
Paula Castillo T
The New York-based lighting designer Paula Castillo T (1986, Chile) links theatre, film, architecture, and visual arts. Her theatre design interest becomes obvious in her "Electric Sun" (2021) installation for the Copenhagen Light Festival. While we are used to the sun falling through the window to illuminate interior spaces, Castillo T inverts the direction of light with the impression of an interior sun illuminating the outside on the street. Thereby the pedestrians are surprised with a surreal and magical night scene.
Tine Bech
Tine Bech (1966, Denmark) focuses on projects with a positive social impact with the help of playful interactive installations. Her project "We Believe" (2017) was part of the European Capital of Culture program and represents an exploration of how light art and technology could be used to connect cities. From a custom-built control room, members of the public were able to illuminate two iconic Arne Jacobsen buildings simultaneously in Aarhus and London. The interface contributed to the project's theme of democracy and putting people and play in the center of the future city.
Yvette Mattern
From Los Angeles and Berlin Yvette Mattern's (1963, Puerto Rico,) work has an emphasis on video and film with her background studying at Columbia University's Film Division. She collaborated with many artists on film and theatre projects including Cindy Sherman and Diller+Scofidio. Her laser light installation "Global Rainbow" has been presented over 20 times since 2009. The Global Rainbow was inspired by the sighting of a rainbow in 2007: “I witnessed the most strikingly dramatic and spectacular rainbow crashing through what seemed like apocalyptic clouds hovering over Walden Pond, Massachusetts on the first day of 2007. I was deeply moved and inspired to replicate this vision artistically." Organized in response to Hurricane Sandy in 2012, Mattern projected seven beams of high-power laser light over communities hit hard by the storm, originating on Manhattan's lower west side and spanning across Brooklyn toward the Rockaways. The installation aimed to symbolize hope and act as a call to action to support the communities that were devastated by the storm.
Light Matters, a column on light and space, is written by Dr. Thomas Schielke. Based in Germany, he is fascinated by architectural lighting and works as a trainer for the lighting company ERCO. He has published numerous articles and co-authored the books “Light Perspectives” and “SuperLux”. For more information check www.erco.com and www.arclighting.de.
