Light is an important part of my habitats, and through the use of light, I am creating an ambience transporting viewers to a different world or dimension.
Light is “ electromagnetic radiation that can be detected by the human eye. The entire electromagnetic spectrum is extremely broad, ranging from low energy radio waves with wavelengths that are measured in meters, to high energy gamma rays with wavelengths…,” according to the Oxford Instruments Group. There is a very narrow range of light that the human eye can see. Humans are not able to see infra-red light at 700 nanometers or ultraviolet light, lower than 400 nanometers.
Light is fundamental for humans to understand the world around us. “As light interacts with matter it can become altered, and by studying light that has originated or interacted with matter, many of the properties of that matter can be determined. It is through the study of light that, for example, we can understand the composition of stars and galaxies that are many light years away or watch in real time the microscopic physiological processes that occur within living cells.” When we are looking at the stars in the sky at night, we are looking into the past. For example, if there is a star that is a million light years away, a person is looking a million years into the past. Theoretically, one could be looking back to when the Big Bang occurred.
Light is a means to my vision. In my habitats, I am presenting light in visible wavelengths in the plexiglass tree forms representing the botanical. The opaque quality of the scarified plexiglass trees creates a uniform color of light shining through them. When all the plexiglass trees are together, they form a life-like forest background. The light emitting from my glass crystals will be experienced as bioluminescent light representing the biological. Light is being used in very different ways, representing the biological and the botanical.
Bioluminescent light is a “light produced by a chemical reaction within a living organism.” Bioluminescence is a form of chemiluminescence whereby light is produced by a chemical reaction within a living organism. “This occurs when enzymes act on chemicals known as luciferins within the organism, resulting in energy being released in the form of light.” Most bioluminescent organisms are found in the ocean, such as fish, bacteria and jellyfish. There are some bioluminescent land species such as fireflies, glow worms, and fungi. In The Guardian.com Biology section, from April 27, 2020, I found an interesting article about scientists in England, Russia and Austria experimenting with injecting bioluminescent fungi genes into the DNA of tobacco plants, resulting in bioluminescent plants. There is some speculation by scientists that the bioluminescent spores in fungi attract animals in order to disperse the spores throughout forests.
In my habitats, the glass crystals in the background represent a hybrid of jellyfish and fungi. The physical forms of some of the glass crystals I created, appear simultaneously undulated and fin-like. They could be a species of creature on their own. The fairy lights, I placed within each crystal, are formed into a helix to simulate the bioluminescence of the living being. The purpose of the light emitted from my hybrid creatures is to defend themselves against predators, to attract mates, and to communicate. Light in this instance is bringing my glass crystals to life.
There are glass crystals in some of the trees, which will also be lighted. The color of the light will match the color of the glass crystals in the background, which will connect to one another in a symbiotic way. The lights of the glass crystals in the tree forms represent the trees’ life force, which connects to the glass crystals in the background. They nourish each other through a rhizome connection underground. The environment encourages and sustains this connection. Therefore, the habitat’s ecosystem is interconnected.
Light’s quality brings my habitat to life because light is an indicator of life. I am simultaneously projecting life onto my habitat, and light gives the viewer the realistic existence of life. The materials channel the light.
Eventually, there will be a red laser beam emitting light from the center of the crystal mount straight up into the atmosphere. This red beam is a beacon of the habitat’s universe, revealing its location.
Three artists who have used light in their installations are Kusama, Flavin and Turrell. Their use of light is very different from one another, and the effect is different. However, there is an element of the spiritual in each artist’s installation.
Kusama uses light to convey the experience of being in the eternal universe in her “Infinity Mirror Rooms.” The light in Kusama’s installations reflect on the mirrored surfaces adding to the intensity of the lights. Kusama’s “Fireflies on the Water” is an example of how bioluminescent fireflies are incorporated into an installation. The lights of the “fireflies” reflecting upon the mirrored surface of the floor gives the realistic impression of what it would look like when fireflies fly over the calm surface of a lake. The darkness of the room gives the impression of the night sky, and the fireflies are the stars in the sky. The colors of the lights used in the “Fireflies on the Water” installation are blue, yellow and pink.
Turrell uses light from outside into interior spaces for a celestial experience. In Turrell’s installation “Space That Sees,” he frames the light coming through a large square ceiling skylight window framed by the outer edge of the ceiling. Jori Finkel of The New York Times described it as, “From a distance, it looks like a cutting-edge mausoleum. In fact, it’s a celestial viewing room designed to create the rather magical illusion that the sky is within reach, stretched like a canvas across an opening in the ceiling. At sunset the colors, intensified by artificial light in the room, are spectacular.”
Flavin uses light as the medium for his sculptures, as a painter uses paint. “The fluorescent lamps were not important as objects, but as the producers of light. ‘Flavin…replaces colored pigment with colored light. In this way color does not define the object; the tube itself is color, and its light goes beyond the object itself.’ The viewer, standing before a Flavin proposal, is at once part of the work…….. The light illuminates the viewer, as it does the space. However, outside of this physical interaction, there are a variety of opinions as to the proper action of the viewer.”
This all leads me to ponder more questions:
Should I place small lights in the earth around my tree forms?
How would it look to have strings of bioluminescent lights wrapped around the trees like vines?
Could lights be used as fruits hanging from the trees?
How will people experience light in my habitats?
What am I conveying with my lights?
Do my lights resonate with people as a spiritual experience?
What if I found a way to suspend my lights in mid air? Would that give an impression of fireflies and could it represent stars in the sky?
What if I introduce mirrors into my habitat?
https://andor.oxinst.com/learning/view/article/what-is-light
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/bioluminescence/
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/biolum.html#:~:text=Bioluminescence%20is%20the%20production%20and%20emission%20of%20light%20by%20a%20living%20organism.&text=While%20the%20functions%20of%20%20bioluminescence,members%20of%20the%20same%20species
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/apr/27/scientists-create-glowing-plants-using-mushroom-genes
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jul/03/fungi-glow-dark-luminscent-mushrooms-conservation-enviroment-bioscience