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condition that was simultaneously developed with the artists as the artistic problem and brief.
The artworks, as an edition of two, were simultaneously installed in Australia and China. In this
way the libraries would have a commonality, allowing audiences in Australia and China to consider
the other context and imaginatively project into another space. A visual presentation delivered on
existing programming monitors within each library documented the pairing of the artworks in dual
locations. This offered further explanation by drawing together the disparately located works.
Thebilateralnatureoftheproject raisesquestionsas tohoweachartworkrelatestoandisunderstood
in each location. How might audiences differ? Likely to be more exposed to contemporary art in
public places, would audiences in Australia be more literate and confident with the exhibition, or
indifferent and dismissive? How would audiences in China interact with the artworks – would they
foster conversations or more private attitudes? How might the different approaches and attitudes
of staff within the libraries affect the reception of the artworks and indeed affect relations between
staff and library users? Would the exhibition change the culture of the library, affect its institutional
disposition and would this be welcomed or resisted?
The exhibition was predominantly a quiet infiltration into library spaces counterbalanced with one
outdoor work that was undeniably present. While
Light from Light
is described here predominantly
as a public art project for libraries and library patrons, the project did make some more traditional
links back to the art world. There were artists talks in Brisbane; a symposium at the China Academy
of Art where artists spoke about their projects; and in Beijing the
Light from Light
Burchill &
McCamley geodesic dome was installed at the front entrance of the National Art Museum of China
(NAMOC) with a didactic presentation about the exhibition inside the museum to extend awareness
and link audiences across the institutions.
The
Light from Light
exhibition collected artists’ responses that reflect on the multi-dimensionality
of light: the physical properties of light, the cultural associations, and light as a metaphor for
spirituality and rational thought.
The artworks acted as islands to visit, mentally or physically. Returning to the idea of the artwork
as a place to lapse from research, to contemplate and enter as places of free thought, Lin Tianmiao’s
Private Reading Lamp
was reported to be well occupied in the Chinese libraries, often showing
protruding legs. The one-person retreat in Brisbane seems to have been not quite so popular to
enter, though was a memorable and dramatic visual object, suspended from the 12m ceiling. Each
of the artists’ works took on new qualities in each library, generating fresh stories from their public
installation and occasionally antagonistic relationships with staff, who sometimes struggled to
cope with the interventions grafted into their ordered space. Though it should be said there were as
many if not more stories of expanded experience and gratitude from staff for the unusual requests
that enabled their libraries to work in ways they hadn’t before.
I’d like to thank the artists – Wang Gongxin who infiltrated art into databases; Pak Sheung Chuen
who explored light as a metaphor for the library’s knowledge systems; Josef Strau who made
awkward and elegant lamps tell stories; Joyce Hinterding and David Haines who offered the sound
of the sun hitting the earth’s atmosphere; Zhang Peili who illuminated in garish hues the functions
and dysfunctions of language; Grant Stevens who offered an escape into the sunset; Wang Peng who
used light to both train and confuse our gaze; Archie Moore who made a book out of shelves; Lin
Tianmiao who made a private light; Eugene Carchesio who was the thief of light; and Janet Burchill
with Jennifer McCamley who made
light from light
.
