The exhibition “The Illusion of Light” explores the physical, aesthetic, symbolic, philosophical and political stakes of an essential dimension of human experience that has also been, since (at least) the Renaissance, a fundamental element of art: light.
It is the light that makes the invisible dimension become visible. The blazing light that, at its maximum intensity, nullifies the ability to actually see. The light of revelation, of illumination, which brings us beyond the visible… The exhibition is built on these extremes and, through the works of 18 artists from the 1960s to today, involves the profound ambivalence of light, its numerous meanings and values. Thus, the visitor could discover it as if going through all the synonyms of the verbs “to light”, “bring to light”, “come to light”, “shed light on” provided by languages: appear, bring to notice, clarify, comment on, detect, dig up, disclose, elucidate, emerge, explain, expose, identify, lay bare, manifest, materialize, reveal, set alight, set on fire, show up, transpire, turn up, uncover, unearth, unveil…
Clearly, the exhibition does not exhaust the vast field of questions posed by contemporary artists on these concepts. However, it encourages the visitor to invent, in absolute freedom and in light of his own intelligence and sensibility, his path between the opposite polarities of black and white, day and night, reality and illusion.
- Artists:
Eija Liisa AhtilaTroy BrauntuchMarcel BroodthaersDavid ClaerboutBruce ConnerLatifa EchakhchDan FlavinVidya GastaldonGeneral IdeaGilbert & GeorgeRobert IrwinBertrand LavierJulio le ParcAntoni MuntadasPhilippe ParrenoSturtevantClaire TabouretDanh VoDoug WheelerRobert Whitman - Open:
Sunday, 13 April 2014 - Close:
Wednesday, 31 December 2014 - Address:
San Marco, Campo San Samuele 3231, Venice - Web:
Palazzo Grassi - Opening hour:
Wed – Mon | 10am – 7pm - Closing day:
Tue - Admission:
15 €, reduced 10 € - Transport:
Linea 2, San Samuele stop; Linea 1, Sant’Angelo stop - Photo credits:
Courtesy of Palazzo Grassi