Seth Riskin

PhD candidate at the Planetary Collegium, CAiiA Hub, School of Art & Media, University of Plymouth

Director of the MIT Museum Studio

 

The Physical Semantics of Light (2015)

 

Light as a subject of thought has proved to be impossible to deal with

holistically. Light is intrinsic to the furthest levels of physics, visual art,

philosophy, psychology, etc. The mental structures to deal with light have been

quite complex through time, cultures and disciplines, pushing against such

boundaries. The concept of light embodies many semantic and conceptual

contradictions and paradoxes, e. g., light operates in space and time which are

themselves functions of light.

I want to explore and present these contradictions in a manner by which they

may be more fully apprehended and communicated. I intend to use physical

light to reveal metaphors of light and their relationships. Combining textual

descriptions of light with optical light, physical materials, space and time will

allow me to address metaphors of light experientially and theoretically at once.

I will use text and associated concepts in ways that subject them to the same

potentials of simultaneity, spatiotemporality, etc. that light itself affords. The

research aims at combined intellectual and artistic development and

communication. It will be practice-based, resulting in a body-scale structure, or

structures (e. g., made of transparent or translucent materials, optical light and

text) that simultaneously constitutes a form of writing and physical creation,

ie., “physical semantics” of light using light

info:www.i-node.org