Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Radical Light Kai Art Center













The video clip is an outtake from a 20 min doc video by Stella Saarts for Kai Art Center on Anne Katrine Senstad's monumental and immersive sculptural light installation on the essence of perception, elements of purification, and the sensorial experiences of space, entitled Radical Light. The experiential light environment is defined by sets of matrices and an enveloping horizon and accompanied by en enveloping infinite composition by acclaimed composer JG Thirlwell


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Radical Light - Anne Katrine Senstad 


Exhibition open from January 26 – April 26, 2020

Kai Art Center is proud to present a new large-scale light installation by renowned Norwegian artist Anne Katrine Senstad, created especially for the newly opened art center in Port Noblessner in Tallinn, Estonia.

Senstad’s immersive light sculpture environment is an invitation to encounter the perceptive sensations of light and sound in pure form and their transformational effect on the experience of space. Constructed of neon lights, the unique luminal properties effect our cognitive system where the artificiality of LED lights fall short. As one of Senstad’s largest indoor works to date, the light sculpture is conceived as a monument and a matrix – a vast spectral light sphere which allows the public to experience being enveloped in the radiance of light of the highest spectrums when wandering through the historic former submarine factory housing the 450m2 exhibition space.

With a unique sound environment composed specifically for Radical Light by acclaimed composer JG Thirlwell, spatial audio arrangements engulf the space in luminous sounds in pure form. Senstad has collaborated with Thirlwell on numerous occasions since 2000, most notably Senstad’s solo exhibition during the 56th Venice biennale in 2015, The Vanity of Vanities.

While the exhibition takes place from January through April during some of the darkest months in Estonia, the immense light sculpture illuminates the dark season of the northern hemisphere.

The film and lecture program accompanying the exhibition opens an important chapter in the history of art – from the late 1960s to early 1970s – inspired by minimalist and land art and represented by a number of famous American artists such as Robert Smithson, Nancy Holt, Walter de Maria, Doug Wheeler and James Turrell. Films will include Troublemakers: The Story of Land Art (2015), Spiral Jetty (1970) and Sun Tunnels (1978).

The film program will begin with Troublemakers: The Story of Land Art (2015, by James Crump) on February 5th and 19th at 6pm at Kai cinema. The screenings of Sun Tunnels and Spiral Jetty will take place on March 4th and 18th.

Kai Art Center offers guided tours at the exhibition in Estonian, English, Russian, Finnish, Swedish and German. Please contact us to book a tour.

Read an essay about the exhibition written by prof. Andres Kurg in EnglishFinnish or Russian.

Supporters: Viru Keskus, Utilitas, Royal Norwegian Embassy in Estonia, NBK/Vederlags fondet, Norway 

Special thanks to: ABC Motors, AkzoNobel, JAA Disain, Proplastik, Põhjala Brewery, Red Hat Group Design, Valge Klaar