The Light Observer #5

Lead articles:

• Photographic series by acclaimed photographer Awoiska van der Molen. In her photographs, without titles or any indications as to their locations, in the silver gelatin prints notions of time – day and night - seem non-existent.
• Interview with experimental game designer Tracy Fullerton, about her game The Night Journey developed together with artist Bill Viola.
• Interview with artist and photographer Cecilia Del Gatto about her project Umi Hotaru, experimenting with bioluminescent light and photography.
• Project by artist Marie Sommer, shooting at night around a nuclear power plant built on the Basque coast.
• Interview with acclaimed artist Henni Alftan on her process, figurative art and especially her show entitled Night Time at Sprüth Magers.
• Photographic series by Japanese photographer Tokio Matsubara and his Okinoshima series, about the sky, the sea and the islands. 
• Interview with the emerging film-maker Dorian Jespers about his first film Sun Dog: a journey into the frozen night of the Russian tundra.
• Roma by Led, a video project in which public lighting malfunctions in the city of Rome are filmed, by artist José Angelino.
  

Thoughts:

• Augustin Fresnel’s journey, told by writer Jeanette Farrell. His theories left their mark on the history of science. He is notably famous for the Fresnel lens, which were used in lighthouses, saving many lives at sea.
• Photographic series by Kohei Yoshiyuki, his celebrated series The Park, and thoughts by Benedetta Casagrande, reflecting on the culture of voyeurs, revenge pron and the viewers’s place.
• Essay by Alfonso de la Torre about the Caminos series by artist Javier Pérez, pastel and charcoal artworks depicting paths in the forest.
• Interview with philosopher Alain Badiou. What does he think of the night? Together, we discussed how philosophers have approached this subject and what it says about our societies.
• Interview with lighting company ewo and the artistic duo beierle.goerlich about their collaboration and public lighting, design and innovation.
• Interview with researcher Jean Lilensten, specialized in solar activity and its impact on the planets of the solar system.
  

Collaborations:

• Series of paintings by German artist Anna Maria Schönrock. Her artistic research reflects on abstraction and figuration and how the two intertwine. Her series for us is entitled Nocturnal.
• Series by aspiring artist Agata Haxhiaj. For this issue on the night, we asked this 4-year-old girl to draw some pictures on this topic in a very free and spontaneous manner.
• Photographic series by Alice Fiorilli for 4spaces - ‘The light can be a curtain as well as the darkness’