Light at the End of the Year

 

Heliostat at Rjukan Norway

When we think of light we understand it as a retinal phenomenon. But music has been used as a metaphor for centuries, most notably during the impressionism period in the late 19th Century, with works primarily by Debussy and Ravel.

In the 20th Century, artists such as James Turrell and Brian Eno extended the phenomenological (or ambient) aspects of light. Eno was interested in light even before he became involved with sound and Turrell, while not an audio artist, recontextualized light as being an ambient phenomenon worthy of deeper meaning and attention.

There is a natural linearity of moving from visual phenomenon to sound; They are joined at the hip in many ways. People who have synesthesia understand this with an intensity that others may not. Still, most understand that light and sound are comprised of various frequencies, which manifest in spectra of colors, luminosity, and pitch.

Algorithms can be programmed to correlate light and sound with the most simple and prosaic example being the laser light displays, sometimes digitally synchronized with sound—sometimes in a more analog fashion using pressure-sensitive piezo microphones, as used in a laser light show accompanying Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.

The association of color frequency and sound frequencies is highly subjective—and no two people will be in accordance. But that is not what matters: In terms of how sunlight waxes and wanes at various points on the globe, it is an impelling force to contemplate the power of sunlight and celestial awareness and extend it to how we experience music and sound. We don't automatically perceive the connection between light and sound but it has always existed, and it is the interdisciplinary artist (or rather "sciartist") who can bring it to light.

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[12/29/2023: What I was thinking today is that, from what I’ve been seeing for the past couple of weeks it’s thinking at the end of the year, because everybody typically contemplates their New Year’s resolutions at the end of December. It’s now become more of a therapy. These days people ask other people what their resolutions are for 2024--and of course people are anxious about the prospects. Last week I went down to the Cultural Center and checked out some of the exhibits. Some of them were a part of the architecture biennial, particularly one at the south entrance at the stairway, which was a rat’s nest of rubber wires and cables in a proscenium arch configuration. I thought, “That’s a good metaphor for what the world is like now...people’s thoughts are a tangled mess of wire.” The piece also gives off an acrid odor of rubber which I think is an interesting side effect. (Stinking Thinking)]

[12/27/2021: E.O. Wilson died at 92. The last person championing the idea of “respectful disagreement”. A very fond memory of reading Consilience and it having such a profound effect on my interdisciplinary thinking—the fact that the arts and sciences could be intertwined. I named my record label with that title.]