Early this week I braved the arctic tundra that was the South Bank to see the Light Show exhibition at the Hayward gallery.I had a great time but unfortunately didn't manage to get any photos, because of those dreaded 'No photography' signs. I guess it means that the place is not full of flashes going off and people actually look at things, rather than just through a viewfinder. But annoying none the less. We'll have to make do with some stuff I found on Google images instead.
The exhibition is split between sculptures and installations that use light in some way, either via bulbs, strip lights, shadows or reflections. In my personal opinion the quality of the pieces varied quite a bit. Some were clever and raised a smile, some generated an audible 'Meh' and some were genuinely amazing.
My favourite exhibit was definitely the last image above, Carlos cruz-Diez's 'Chromosaturation'. This consists of three white rooms each strongly lit in a different colour and some wooden blocks dotted around the place. Doesn't sound like much but the effect is amazing. It's a little difficult to explain what happens, but my description would be that the strong light causes your eyes to react in a way that makes you step back and go 'woooooohh'. As you move between the rooms the colours seem to morph into colours that aren't actually there, I guess because of how your eye reacts. We spent ages in there and came back again before leaving the exhibition and every time there was people in there with massive smiles on their faces.
Other notable exhibits were 'Model for a timeless garden' by Olafur Eliasson, which consisted on a set of small water fountains in a blackened room lit by a strobe light. The effect was to turn the fountains into what looked like glass sculptures. Stunning but it was difficult to stay in there for too long. Although my rave and nightclub training held me in good stead. I would also recommend 'Slow Arc inside a Cube IV' by Conrad Shawcross (2nd to last image), which used a moving light inside of a mesh box to cast strange and hypnotising shadows on the wall.
The show runs until 6th May at the Hayward Gallery on the South Bank and is definitely worth a couple of hours of your time. You can get details of the exhibition at www.haywardlightshow.co.uk and get tickets at The Hayward Gallery website
No comments:
Post a Comment