This entry is a short description of my personal exploration of the idea of ‘network’ metaphorically through the medium of light.
Light is neither immaterial, invisible, nor abstract. One might picture a desk lamp or a theatrical spotlight when the word ‘light’ is heard, but could struggle to have a clear picture of light in mind. Linguists distinguish associate nouns by a basic-level, subordinate and superordinate category. For instance, ‘chair’ is basic-level, ‘rocking chair’ is subordinate and ‘furniture’ is superordinate (Johnson 1990).
The subordinate and superordinate level of chair vary unlike the basic level of chair, for instance, garden chair, classroom chair or office chair can become the subordinate, and ornament, prop or artefact could become the superordinate.
If the same logic is applied, a desk lamp and spot light would be the subordinates of light but what could become the superordinate(s) of light? In the context of performance, stagecraft, visual composition and poetic devices would be obvious examples.
What the common subordinates and superordinates of light tell us are the assumed functions of light in our life, and based on those examples, light provides practical, scenic and symbolic illuminations.
Yet, when light is isolated in space, one can observe its autonomous performance:
Light decays in space like speech
Light relays in space like dialogue
Light blends in space like scene
Light enters space
Light illuminates space
Light adapts space
Space envelops light
Space reflects light
Space animates light
Light and Space (Trent Kim, 2021)
Space is constructed by default, but light co-authors their performance because light occupies the void.
The space/void in the art of light is not a representation of real life but a demonstration of its aesthetic perfection as an art form. As Fanon pointed out, one of the critical flaws that we inherit is the underlying problem of Hegelian dialectics.
“Man is human only to the extent to which he tries to impose his existence on another man in order to be recognized by him… At the foundation of Hegelian dialectic there is an absolute reciprocity which must be emphasized. It is in the degree to which I go beyond my own immediate being that I apprehend the existence of the other as a natural and more than natural reality” (Fanon, 2008 pp.168-169).
One struggles to recognise oneself in others but another recognises oneself in others without any struggle, so Hegelian dialectics is mere aesthetics of abstract logic.
Light connects surfaces until our patience of seeing runs out. Each space that light exists in is specific but cannot be prescriptive as light occupies the void rather than illuminating the site.
In ‘Circle of Light’, light exists in a bicone shaped space, and it performs towards a perfect circle that only remains ideologically but at the same time, light continuously performs what is not the perfect circle.
Works Cited
Fanon, F. (2008) Black Skin, White Masks (Get Political). Revised. Pluto Press.
Johnson, M. (1990) The Body in the Mind: The Bodily Basis of Meaning, Imagination, and Reason. 1st ed. University of Chicago Press.