This is the actual view into  the shed. You have the contrasting colours of the green and blue (from UV light) and also the blue into a pink hue at the top. You can  see the green cords pick up the light as it passes through the space. I am pleased with the visual outcome, however I am still working on the writing that accompanies the work. There are many questions raised by this work in terms of how we perceive light, the three dimensionality and also boundaries in light. This work attempts to illustrate some ideas in advance physics which question our perception of light and whether there are any boundaries between light and space. The term Khora comes from Plato which describes an empty space that holds something whose existence we question. This is how I see my shed and the ideas inside it’s space.

This is the front view of the shed, this photo was taken with a flash so you can see the whole sculpture inside without the opposite of  silhouette reflecting on the cords, in addition to the contrasting angles of the two sets of cords.

This photo shows the side view of the shed with the two sets of cords crossing each other. This photograph was taken with the flash on so the actual image will have a different set of colours than without flash. You can see at the top the differentiation on the white cords where the flash hits. This photo paradoxically shows the light from the flash as opposite to  a silhouette when trying to drain out the effects of the shed’s own lighting system.

This is the shed put up in N301 in university. You can see how it will look in the show and also the size of it and the viewing holes.

I decided to use white elastic cords for aesthetic reasons to contrast with the green. There was a black light or UV light inside the shed. The original idea was that it would be on a timer and therefore show two different types of light.  UV paint would be painted onto the cords where the white light interacted. However after discussion I felt that this was not actually needed as the installation itself shows the opposite of a silhouette and 3D light. I have been working on a piece of writing that will accompany the installation and is integral to the viewer’s understanding of my work.

The opposite of a silhouette: light khora

When one perceives a square of sunlight on a wall, one sees a two-dimensional square, but the ‘actual’ shape of the light could be conceived as an elongated three-dimensional pyramid with its zenith originating at the sun. The existence of this light-space is hinted at as dust motes identify its presence.

Shadows can be considered in a similar way: a shadow may appear as a two-dimensional shape, visible on a wall, but the shadow-space extends from this shape to the light-obstruction that enabled this shadow to be present.  Light fills a space and can be defined by the shadows around it.  Light and shadow are ‘immaterial’, not formed of matter, nebulous, difficult to contain. I have chosen to illustrate the concept of the opposite of a silhouette in true form using a real life example.

This installation tries to encapsulate this spatial dimensionality of light by presenting light as a ‘material’ within space.  We are accustomed to being bathed in light with rare periods of complete darkness.   The moment we move from darkness to light is the significant event in our perception of a change in presence.   Is there something to put in here about the darkness within the shed holding the light?

Silhouette a commonly used word, however, there doesn’t appear to be a simple word for the opposite of a silhouette.  Illumination, luminosity, radiance, incandescence, none of these describes the three dimensional defined shape produced by light within a space. As a culture, we’ve defined the negative but not the positive aspect.  Do other languages have a word for this idea?

Light is an ‘immaterial’ and as such is difficult to represent in three-dimensions.   I have presented materials to the light, to be interacted with, and therefore known to us.  The elastic strings capture the light as it passes through the space. Without these strings, we would see only a two-dimensional light. The idea of the elastic string is to capture the amorphous light and show it as a three-dimensional floating object within the shed.  This metaphysical yet visual piece of art illustrates the opposite of a silhouette and the positive aspect of light.  khora

‘Presence’ can be manipulated using variations in intensity, colour and duration of light. I have changed the ‘presence’ through increasing the amount of UV light. The shed projects it’s own contrasting, dark, bleak ‘presence’ in contrast to what is inside.

This photo was taken inside the shed next to the cords. The light is coming from one of the viewing panels as sunlight seeps through. You can see the sunlight shape on the wall, looking back the cords are lit up by the sunlight to show the shape of the light. This is illustrating the opposite f a silhouette whilst also showing the three dimensionality of light.

From the other view you can see a stark contrast between the cords where the light shines through. Although this is not how the light will be displayed in the shed it was an interesting view and experiment to see how we see boundaries of light against different backgrounds. In one sense this almost illustrates that there are no boundaries as the light blur’s out and cords crossing the light. This ties into the ideas in advance physics of single state universe.

Inside the shed you can see I have mapped out 100×100 cords that come towards the viewer. To implement the cords I bought 500 picture eyes which I then broke open by twisting them with pliers. I researched into lining the inside of the shed with black card and cartridge paper. However these were very expensive and in the end would have been unnecessary and difficult to have sewn through and installed into the shed. You can see how the green elastic cords pick up the light as green absorbs sunlight. I experimented with a few different types of string and nylon threads, but the elastic stays taut and works well for what I am trying to achieve.

I experimented with some different colour cords, different positions and widths across the shed. In this photo you can see the sun shining through the cut shapes in the roof. This is the opposite of a silhouette, these shapes have a boundary but only in our conscious, however we cannot see the full shape of the light. The cords place more boundaries in our conscious so we can see the light’s shape. Now that we can better visualise the three dimensionality of the light we must question our perception in our conscious of the extent of the light. Light extends beyond our visual spectrum e.g. infra-red, but does it penetrate further into dimensions of which we are not aware.

To manipulate light I am going to place a spotlight in the roof which will shine down onto the cords through holes cut out of a piece of MDF wood. I have experimented with different shapes and size holes for light to shine through to illuminate the cords. The triangle cuts create an interesting three dimensional shape on the cords. The idea with the center square cut is to allow more cords to extend through this false roof vertically to contrast the lateral cords.