Minimalism,Light and space

In search for unconscious mind and meditative notion I’ve started to see how relevant artists made their pieces in terms of subject matter and also technique. Some of minimalist artists focused less on the critical debates around objecthood than on the ephemeral character of the viewer’s sensory experience. In many cases, this experience was staged within finely tuned spaces voided of all material objects - as can be seen in the work of Robert Irwin, James Turrell, Bruce Nauman, Maria Nordman, Larry Bell and Michael Asher. The phrase ‘light and space’ was coined to characterize the predilection of theses artists for empty interiors in which the viewer perception of contingent sensory phenomena (sunlight, sound, temperature) became the content of the work.





Phenomenological Installation
In 1990s the ‘phenomenological ‘type of installation art returned as a reference for contemporary practitioners who seek to incorporate identity politics and difference into the perceptual agenda. Olafur Eliasson has clearly indebted to the work of’ light and space’ precursors of the late 1960s. This return to 1970s strategies arises partly from Elission’s belief that the project of dematerialization begun during this decade is still necessary. He is best known for harnessing ‘natural’ materials (water, air, earth, ice, light) into spectacular installations.





There is other kind of installations that instead of heightening awareness of our perceiving body and its physical boundaries they suggest our dissolution. They seem to dislodge or annihilate our sense of self by plunging us into darkness, saturated colors, or refracting our image into infinity of mirror reflections. In these works possibility of locating ourselves in relation to the space is diminished. I have no sense of where I am when there is no perceptible space between external objects and myself.


The video art work of Bill Viola investigates the tension between conscious and unconscious. His works engage duality between death and birth, beauty and violence, darkness and light. Just like Olafur Eliasson his subject is often natural materials specifically water. His art deals with a kind of humanist spirituality. Throughout his career he has drawn meaning and inspiration from his deep interest in mystical traditions, especially Zen Buddhism, Christian mysticism and Islamic Sufism, often evident in the transcendental quality of some of his works. His work often exhibits a painterly quality, his use of ultra-slow motion video encouraging the viewer to sink into to the images.

In Five Angels for the Millennium 2001, a vast dark room filled with ambient music accompanies five large-scale projections, and on each one in turn we are shown a figure of the man falling through or leaping out of the fluid depths. As a viewer we are fused with the darkness and identify with the figure passing through sublimely elemental color.
The popular reception of viola’s work as spiritual is reminiscent of writing on Turrell, and for similar reason viola’s work has always consorted with the metaphysical art.

At first glance Richard Wilson’s 20:50, appears to be an object of phenomenological enquiry in the tradition of Nauman’s corridors. As with Turrell tangible abysses of light, the oil of 20:50 is both threatening and seductive. It has been compared to terrifying void that draws down into its still and fathomless depths. Indeed, standing at the narrow tip of the walkway we seem weightless hovering above the oil, which in turn seems to disappear. The oscillation between presence and absence, threatening and seductive, draws the viewer into a dizzying, disembodied state.