What we perceive as white light actually contains every colour in the spectrum. That our eyes and brains can disrupt and deceive each other in this way is a curious biological phenomenon that should have us questioning the nature of reality. Questioning reality is certainly of great interest to the artists in 5600K.

5600K refers to the rich, contradictory nature of white light as an artistic medium and a technology; something that can be measured and real as well as illusory and suggestive. The number refers to the standard colour temperature used in cinema to replicate white light at the brightest time of day. Consequently this can also be understood as helping to illuminate the symbolism and narratives that have developed around white light.

Technology is a compelling and necessary component of the work and how it is interpreted. The aging technology appears to have a robust physicality that incorporates all the formal, aesthetic qualities of traditional sculpture, yet it is tenuous. In myriad ways these works disrupt or allude to the transformative potential on bodies, space and matter.

The artists here manipulate the measurement and meaning of white light and technology in visceral and poetic ways. In doing so they challenge our understandings of narrative, boundary, technology and perception itself.

Gunda Förster

Circle
A spellbinding focal point of bright white light draws a circle just above the floor. Draws it in white light, leaving a dreamy trail of multi-spectrum colours like a jet stream. This is the temperature of white. 'Circle' suggests something of our originating relationship with a vital light source at night and its natural link to the uncanny. As Förster's light circumnavigates, it forms an enclosure that is different from the uncertain outside zone. Light interrupted by bodies, casts out looming shadows. Out there is the place where the shadows seem to suddenly lose their connection with our bodies, becoming feral and unruly. Is this the place where narrative developed, with the shadows, a representation of us...created in our own image?
Image
Forster
Credits
Circle

2004

1000 Watt Light Bulb, Motor,Transformer, Cord
Biography
Gunda Förster (1967, Berlin) studied at the Hochschule der Künste, Berlin. She has received numerous awards and grants, including the 1st German Art Prize; a DAAD grant for study in the U.S.; the Karl Schmidt-Rottluff grant; the 2003 H. W. & J. Hector Art Prize, Mannheim. Exhibitions in Germany and worldwide. She was guest professor at Leibniz University, Hannover and Professor of Art at the University of Applied Science, Wismar. She is the first recipient of the H. W. & J. Hector Art Prize awarded by the Kunsthalle Mannheim. She lives and works in Berlin.

Carsten Höller

Neon Circle
In the circular cage of Neon Circle, scientist-turned-artist Höller has created a transformative space and one of his ‘influential environments’. Höller’s works are often reminiscent of laboratory experiments : pushing artistic experimentation to an extra-sensory level. Shifting patterns of white neon light circle. The viewer stands centre stage or circumnavigates the outside. The colour white soon becomes questionable and colour invades. The work tests the limits and connections between body, brain and eye; challenging our ability to perceive and react in a profoundly disruptive environment. Höller holds a doctorate in Biology and has done research into perception. He has exhibited internationally for over two decades including major solo exhibitions at Tate Modern, MASS MoCA, Guggenheim, New Museum and the Hayward Gallery.
Image
Holler
Credits
Neon Circle

2001

Aluminium, 186 neon tubes, electro-distributor, single-phase transformer, computer, cables

230 x 460 x 460 cm

Sculptural Electronic Media Installation

Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle

Gift of William and Ruth True
Biography
Carsten Höller (1961, Belgium) applies his training as a scientist in his work as an artist. He has shown internationally for two decades, including major installations at Tate Modern, MASS MoCA, The Double Club, London, Guggenheim Museum, 2009. Solo exhibitions include Fondazione Prada, Milan (2000); ICA Boston (2003); Musée d'Art Contemporain, Marseille (2004); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2008); Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2010); Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin (2011), New Museum, NY (2011), TBA 21, Vienna (2014), National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2014–15). In 2015, Carsten will exhibit at the Venice Biennale and will have a major exhibition at Hayward Gallery, London. Represented by Gagosian Gallery, London, NY, Air de Paris, Massimo di Carlo, Milano.

Elizabeth McAlpine

Light Reading: 1500 Cinematic Explosions
McAlpine appropriates the explosions from 1500 films, then isolates the brightest, white frame from each explosion. It is the moment before obliteration, but already a memory. As Barthes said "The scene is perfectly adapted to this temporal phenomenon: distinct, abrupt, framed, it is already a memory (the nature of a photograph is not to represent but to memorialize)... this scene has all the magnificence of an accident." In each of these frames then you can still see, or perhaps imagine fragments of that which is lost, the faint shadow of a body, or object, the swift passing of a monument. By condensing the explosions into a one minute loop the work has become more volatile and suggestive. It links the real and unreal; explosions created in real time, filmed and then fictionalized to become a cinematic product. In the New Media Gallery the work shows on an old CRT monitor embedded in a column. This anachronistic technology emphasizes the detail of the white source...turns it to something more rich and nuanced. The result is a potent memorial of sorts and an assemblage of white noise and perpetually explosive, white light.
Image
McAlpine
Credits
LIGHT READING: 1500 cinematic explosions

2008

Video-Audio Loop, 1 min

CRT Monitor (20th C), Speakers, Digital hard drive
Biography
Elizabeth McAlpine (1973) is London-based. Her practice spans video art, film, installation and photography. She studied at Goldsmiths College and Slade School of Fine Art. Her work often deploys anachronistic technologies. McAlpine has exhibited in solo shows at Laura Bartlett Gallery, London; Laura Gitlen, New York; Eastside Projects, Birmingham; Art Statements, Art Basel; SPACEX, Exeter; and Ballina Arts Centre, Ireland. And in group shows at Spike Island, Bristol; deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA, USA; Voorkamer, Lier, Belgium and more. She is co-founder/director of PILOT, a live archive for artists/curators, London. McAlpine is represented by Laura Bartlett, London and Laurel Gitlen, NY.