ZHANG
HAOYAN
LIGHTING PROJECT —— LIVE FOREVER
2018. Oct
© 2018 HAOYAN ZHANG
© 2018 HAOYAN ZHANG
I want to create a vision that contains both human civilization and natural mysticism. And I want this vision to show only its form, which means that the allegorical nature has been completely eliminated. The only thing leaves with the audience is personal feeling and association about this scene.
I feel that personal feelings are gradually neglected nowadays. Our worship of sensory enjoyment is often criticized. People are naturally afraid of the passions and feelings which stronger than themselves, it makes them realize that they have the same desires as animals.
I was particularly sensitive to light when I was studying painting. Then, after learning to live in a student apartment in England, one morning I was awakened by a beam of light. This beam of light reflected and refracted between the glass and the curtain and formed a special phenomenon near my bedside .From that day on, I was awakened almost every morning by this light, and then I had an idea that I would make a work of light. Later, I began to do some research in art of lighting.
*These are several phased experiments before the final work.
The art of lighting can be traced back to László Moholy-Nagy（1895 – 1946）. In 1947, László Moholy-Nagy wrote an article called "Vision in Motion". The realm that the early lighting artists have fascinated has been realized by the later film art. They try to create a new visual model by incorporating dynamic elements into the art. Today, the vision of sports has become a part of everyday life. The contribution of lighting art is that it not only creates new light spaces, but also sublimates the visual perception of art into auditory and tactile perception. For the audience, in the space created by the light art, they use their own movement to achieve a higher level of self-perception, consciously reflecting what they see, hear, and feel.
Among these lighting artists, I like James Turrell the best.
“My desire is to set up a situation to which I take you and let you see. It becomes your experience.”
—— James Turrell
James Turrell uses "light and space" as a medium to express and explore people's visual and psychological responses to perception, sensory stimulation and spatial transformation.
Ganzfelds, James Turrell
Ganzfelds, James Turrell
* Ganzfelds: A German word to describe the phenomenon of the total loss of depth perception as in the experience of a white-out.