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Gosh! Is it alive?
Lighting design created for the exhibition ‘Gosh! Is it alive?’ at ARKEN Museum of Modern Art underpins the narrative of the exhibition about human form and technology. The exhibition ‘Gosh! Is it alive?’ at ARKEN Museum of Modern Art in Ishøj, Denmark display a large collection of hyperrealistic artworks with a disqueting resemblance to human beings and hereby explores the relation(ship) between the real and the unreal. The lighting design created for the exhibition is composed of two different lighting layers: artwork and aesthetical. The artwork layer focuses on creating a coherent visual experience throughout the exhibition and transforms the visitors perception of the artwork by using a variation of direction, distribution and positioning of light while still providing and respecting the light level requirements for each artwork. The aesthetical layer is used as the main component for telling the exhibition narrative and seeks to enhance the story of each room. Through a single governing principle, this layer creates a subtle light scenography for the artworks. At the entrance of the exhibition the visitor is greeted by an infinity mirror reflecting their own mirror image. The overall lighting is focused on vertically enhancing the walls and texts on the walls. The only art piece in the room is placed in front of a mirror doubling the sculpture and thus complimenting the infinity mirror across the room. In the first room of the exhibition the light creates a homely and familiar atmosphere. Using the danish artist Vilhelm Hammershøi as an inspiration, two gobo projectors simulate daylight coming through a window frame onto the floor. This amplifies the feeling of being indoor, while giving the sensation of information from something coming from the outside. The artworks are illuminated by the use of narrow spotlights and a warm colour temperature of 2700K thus resembling the light qualities present at home. In contrast, the light qualities in the next room take the visitor outside and into the street through the use of high pressure sodium street lamps. Here the fixtures are used as a scenographic element and are characterized by their very warm color and wide distributions. This emphasises the feeling of being in the street, while trying to re-create the mood of a small town stopped in time. At the end of the room the lighting enhances an art piece by Mel Ramos using billboard fixtures, giving the impression of being on the outskirts of the town. In this room, a high contrast between light and dark leaves the space for guests to dwell between lit and unlit areas. Here light is used to “paint” on the empty museums walls. Several small focused light sources, in combination with different bendings of a translucent material, create different vivid colors of light. This adds a dreamy atmosphere to the room almost like walking in a dream. A clinical and laboratory-like feeling is created in the exhibition room using spotlights with very cold color temperature and wide distribution. Several fluorescent tubes with black color diffusers used in greenhouses intensifies the sensation of being in an experimental research lab inhabited by human freaks and monstrosities. In the exhibition finale a rainbow of light creates a positive and cheerful exit. The light is created by filtering the light spectrum of the wall washer’s white light creating a colorful splash on the museum walls. The light is inspired by the centerpiece of the room: the futuristic transgender Juliana by Frank Benson. Also spotlights with warm color temperature enhance the shiny surface of the sculpture. https://www.yoke.dk/