_Light Show_

All the great names of light-based art are represented: François Morellet, James Turrell, Doug Wheeler, Nancy Holt and Jenny Holzer, among others. Twenty-five individual artworks explore the different artistic aspects of artificial light, from Dan Flavin’s minimalist fluorescent constructions, Anthony MacCall’s interactive video screening and Conrad Shawcross’s kinetic sculptures to state-of-the-art technologies. Among the latter, the work of Leo Villarreal, one of the most faithful exponents of the new generation of creators who use light as their main language deserves special mention. This artist’s creative approach is based on system integration and the elaboration of complex light sculptures which include a combination of strobe lighting, neon lights, and more recently, LED lights activated by custom-made software he himself designs. In his work Cylinder ll (2012), he composes this geometric shape with twenty thousand white twinkly lights that dance suspended in space, fusing light and movement. Through its almost four-meter height, the work evokes a meteor shower, fireworks, a starry night, fluorescent waves, or a swarm of dragonflies, never repeating the same sequence and thus having a mesmerizing effect on the viewer.

Also included in the exhibit is the Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez, an emblematic exponent of Op Art at the international level. His installation Chromosaturation, first created in 1965, reproduces artificial environments through colored spaces that alter the perception of visitors, fostering the fusion between artwork and viewer.

Among the artists represented is the Chilean Iván Navarro with his works Burden (Lotte World Tower) (2010), and Reality Show (Silver) (2011), a cubicle resembling a telephone box in which the viewers see themselves reflected ad infinitum and where the look from the outside appears not to exist.

In sum, this is a show that invites the viewer to reconsider his/her way of seeing the world through the contemplation, exploration and interaction with spaces and objects lit in very diverse ways and inducing questioning on the veracity of everything that surrounds us.