LUMINOSITY - WINTER 2014LUMINOSITY, a 2014 exhibition of interactive, light-based art, brightened the dark winter nights of Lexington with sculpture, installation, film, and photography produced by leading regional, national, and international artists working with the medium of light. From downtown Lexington to LAL’s Loudoun House, the month-and-a-half long project offered engagement and inclusion through art in a way that was completely new to Lexington.
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The making OF NEW Moon
LUMINOSITY’s signature piece was New Moon, a 20 foot sculpture constructed of thousands of light bulbs donated by Central Kentucky citizens and businesses in a community-wide light bulb drive. Canadian artists Caitlind r.c. Brown and Wayne Garrett worked with students from Bluegrass Technical and Community College’s Welding Technology program and other community volunteers to weld and fabricate the eight feet diameter moon. The moon was made with an internal light source that lit up half of the sphere, reflecting true celestial interactions between the Sun and Earth’s only natural satellite.
LEXINGTON ART LEAGUE's Art BallNew Moon was first unveiled at LAL’s Art Ball, a high-fashion, maximum-drama, formal black-tie gala to celebrate and preview the signature piece of LUMINOSITY.
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LUMINOSITY @ TRIANGLE PARKAbout a month later, New Moon found its way downtown to Triangle Park, where it was a beacon of light from February 21st to March 31st. Brown and Garret’s stunning, innovative, and highly accessible work in the heart of downtown Lexington not only symbolized art's power to illuminate the darkness, it put Lexington on the map as a culturally vibrant city on par with national and international arts destinations.
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LUMINOSITY @ LOUDOUN HOUSE
LUMINOSITY also provided light based, engaging work on site at LAL’s Loudon House. Keeping LAL’s mission of “Art for Everyone” at the forefront of the entire project, each installation within the gallery space aimed for ample amounts of inclusion, participation, and fun. Brown and Garret provided another installation, Bellwether, where hundreds of wine bottles turned into light-chimes were hung in a dark room, lighting up every time a viewer would move the dangling strings like true wind chimes.
Rune Guneriussen, a Norwegian artist working in a transition between installation and photography, displayed large-scale photographs of light-based installations in nature. Although the pieces were photographs, the artist made it clear that the photos were more about the installation themselves and the life span of the outdoor placements as they existed in nature.
Lexington-based artist Valerie Fuchs showed video installations in which the viewers’ hands became the screens for the images to project on. When holding a hand under either projector, one’s palm became a trip of non-stop psychedelic abstraction or a resting shot of forest or creek. The contrast between the two different images suggested environmental responsibility, but both images provided great opportunities for interacting with the work itself.
Lastly, Colorado-based Jen Lewin installed a large laser harp that viewers could "play" with their body, creating a dance-like relationship between art, science, music, and the physical body.
By the end of LUMINOSITY, more than two million people were exposed to at least some of the six-week project. Further, LUMINOSITY provided additional context and deeper engagement opportunities, which included family tours, teacher resources, children and teen art-making classes, and Artist Conversations.
Participation in Luminosity was personal and collective – a metaphor for the way visual art is currently being introduced, understood and embraced in central Kentucky. Luminosity truly brought to light the impact that art can have on a city.
Rune Guneriussen, a Norwegian artist working in a transition between installation and photography, displayed large-scale photographs of light-based installations in nature. Although the pieces were photographs, the artist made it clear that the photos were more about the installation themselves and the life span of the outdoor placements as they existed in nature.
Lexington-based artist Valerie Fuchs showed video installations in which the viewers’ hands became the screens for the images to project on. When holding a hand under either projector, one’s palm became a trip of non-stop psychedelic abstraction or a resting shot of forest or creek. The contrast between the two different images suggested environmental responsibility, but both images provided great opportunities for interacting with the work itself.
Lastly, Colorado-based Jen Lewin installed a large laser harp that viewers could "play" with their body, creating a dance-like relationship between art, science, music, and the physical body.
By the end of LUMINOSITY, more than two million people were exposed to at least some of the six-week project. Further, LUMINOSITY provided additional context and deeper engagement opportunities, which included family tours, teacher resources, children and teen art-making classes, and Artist Conversations.
Participation in Luminosity was personal and collective – a metaphor for the way visual art is currently being introduced, understood and embraced in central Kentucky. Luminosity truly brought to light the impact that art can have on a city.