Light is the source and prerequisite of sight – and thus one of the central media of art. From the earliest cave paintings, created in the flickering glow of fire, right through to contemporary works employing photographic, installation and digital techniques, light has accompanied artistic practice as a material, a metaphor and an instrument of insight.
Our digital group exhibition “An ode to light” assembles perspectives dedicated to this multifaceted phenomenon. The photographs, paintings and works on paper on display approach light as a connecting element between the visible and the invisible, between physical reality and subjective experience. They invite us not only to observe this existential phenomenon, but to experience it – as something that opens up spaces, shifts meanings and continually reshapes our perception.
In photography, light forms the technical and conceptual foundation of the image. Artists such as Thomas Struth, Candida Höfer, Thomas Ruff and Chen Wei explore the conditions of photographic image production and reveal the extent to which the photographic image is shaped by exposure, resolution and media translation. By referencing its technical significance and history, and through its use as a compositional and dramaturgical element, suspenseful pictorial spaces emerge in which light and darkness guide perception. At the same time, lighting conditions serve to convey atmosphere and mood. Jānis Avotiņš, Elger Esser, Florian Süssmayr, Annabell Häfner and Maximilian Rödel work with nuanced luminous ambiances that oscillate between documentary observation and subjective perception. Their works highlight how luminosity can generate emotional resonance without losing its connection to real or imagined places. Furthermore, light can function as a metaphorical vehicle for meaning and memory. In Thu Van Tran’s paintings, the relationship between brightness and darkness is linked to historical and material questions, without being reduced to unambiguous symbolism. Finally, the conditions of perception itself move into focus. In his works, Dan Graham has shown how reflection, transparency and light phenomena shift the relationship between viewer, space and image, rendering it a new experience.
