licht mher licht guillaume marmin arnolfini 18/3/19
With my own art being largely influenced by simplistic and minimal imagery affecting a space, Guillaume Marmin's 'licht mher licht' is the kind of exhibition i love to visit for inspiration. I just enjoy art where you are able to enter into it and forget about stuff for a little while. The sensory deprivation/stimulation involved in standing in a dark room with lights flashing around you is almost meditative and reminds me what i like about art; Simplicity. It's very contemporary but derived from minimalist ideas, harbouring light and sound and how they navigate a space together and create an engaging experience.
The installation is immersive and brings a sculptural quality to light and sound which i am all about; making the intangible into something tangible in the sense that the viewer can interact with it or in this case walk through it. There are essentially 3 elements to this work i focus on, the light beams, the soundscape and the smoke machine. They all work together and create something engaging; the music was so rhythmic and energetic i felt like i was in the matrix and the smell of the smoke reminded me of being in popworld a bit. Paired together with the narrow projected light beams, you could almost feel them vibrating through you as you passed through them, the smoke machine making the beams more visible and more tactile. It felt futuristic yet classically sublime at the same time, a transcendent spectacle that you'd get your phone out for.
Despite the advanced technology used to execute the experience, it is not something i focus on as a digital artwork. Given that the work is quite visually simplistic and interactive, it's easy to separate from the technology involved and focus on the experience as just that. Although, the modern landscape that is created through light and sound could be deemed similar to the visual acuity of expanded cinema, the installation acting as a three dimensional 'screen' that you can physically navigate through. There is no figurative imagery in this installation, but you could argue that the audience creates this imagery simply by being present in the space. I can imagine this being a production scale film set in a way, the viewers acting as spectators that interrupt the light and become moving images in their own right and elevate the artwork to more than just a light show.
One of my favourite parts of the experience watching a woman walking out of the installation with their baby attached to them in a front carrier, with the widest eyes and dubious grin on its face. Even babies love flashy lights. Sensory stimulation is still as satisfying and interesting as an cognitively developed adult.
useful links:
https://www.guillaumemarmin.com/
https://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/how-expanded-cinema-rethinks-film-screening
https://www.arnolfini.org.uk/whatson/installation-licht-mehr-licht
