site-specific installation
finding of a state of
light: distribution of luminous intensity and its fluctuation
2000 Jan-Mar : Exhibition, "Sound Art - Sound as Media"
at ICC (NTT Inter Communication Center) , Tokyo
Light is a fascinating phenomenon, but understanding
its essence is extraordinarily difficult. Unlike wave/vibration phenomena
propagated through material media, as an inherency of space-time itself
light has the disposition of electromagnetic wave which can propagate
even through a vacuum [*1] and at the same time
has the disposition of photon particles which can hold localizable energy
and momentum. The complementarity of light's dual disposition as wave
and particle has made it a research topic of continued interest and thinking
about the essence of light gives rise to a wide manifold concept. "Light"
is also one of the most familiar of physical phenomena. By illuminating
the spaces we inhabit, light is an indispensable element in the structure
of cognitive perception known as vision whereby we are able to distinguish
objects. In this work I have dealt with this familiar "light"
that gives rise to such conceptual manifoldness in relation to the "place"
on which it illuminates.
Lighting as a function to illuminate spaces is a kind of apparatus built
into a place in order either to light up the entire place uniformly or
to highlight one characteristic part. I regard the apparatus as a kind
of under-structure which forms a property of the place. In other words
this property which is some state of physical, epistemological, organizational
under-structure must continue to operate in the "place" where
is defined as "a closed finite range in space-time", in order
for the place to maintain its integrity[*2]. Lighting
as a such an apparatus primarily provides information useful for the visual
perception of space. And when we consider the functions attributed to
that place, our own activities as we enter into it are greatly involved
in this illuminated space. Moreover, even the lighting that appears to
illuminate the space uniformly, if seen as a space-time phenomenon can
also be recognized as a fluctuating light source turning on and off in
50 cycles per second or more. Normally, however, we are not aware of these
cycles. It is for this reason that I believe that focusing on the luminous
fluctuations and distribution of the light source is an extremely useful
way of understanding "place" and its "property".
In this project I have been able to find several characteristic distributions
of light as regards a property of the place at ICC. In "finding of
a state of light: distribution of luminous intensity and its fluctuation"
I have treated those states in term of the movement of objects. The phenomena
that will be visible/audible here are one in which "light" propagating
as an inherency of space-time goes through an energy exchange using the
contact potential difference occurring between the two distinct materials
within a solar cell to be translated into the dynamic movement of speakers'
cone paper. Thus the distribution of light and its fluctuations found
as proper to a specific place are rendered perceivable as the movement
of an object without the addition of any energy from the outside. Through
this movement made perceivable I attempt to reflect once again on the
relationship between the state of light that we experience on a daily
basis and the "places" that the light illuminates. And in the
process, I hope to imagine the emergence of a world distributed by the
manifold concept of "light".
*1- There is a tendency to conflate the material wave/vibration
phenomena as "sound" with the electromagnetic wave phenomenon
as "light", but the two are fundamentally different. The only
characteristic they have in common is the periodicity of movement found
in the partial differential form of the wave-equation formula.
*2- On "Place" see my "Place: concerning its concept and
measurement" Site of Sound: of Architecture & the Ear. Brandon
LaBelle and Steve Roden eds. Errant Bodies Press, SMART ART PRESS.
