My own (light) background:
I grew up in a relatively dark house. Natural light only penetrated through a few small windows. It often was a shock to step outside and suddenly be surrounded by light.
In all seasons there was always a sharp contrast in colour and light between the interior and exterior.
This has had a strong influence on the rest of my life.
I first took up black and white photography.
Later on this claire/obscure or light/shadow contrasts played an important role in my drawings.
It then inspired me to start screen-printing on glass and PVC. I wanted transparency in my work so that light would have a more prominent role than it had already.
Light had to be able to play with my drawings and collages from all sides. It also created interesting projections of my prints on the wall behind. The architectural surroundings remained visible through my work. The subjects of my drawings and collages on glass are based on these architectural surroundings. For more details see GLASS.
In my latest step in this process I want to focus solely on light/space and what impact this has on people.
I find it equally important to let people become participants while interacting with this light/space.
I want to facilitate and be part of (co-author) an all-enveloping light experience.
My first experiment was creating a Ganzfeld for an exhibition in 2007. Comparable to an arctic whiteout, Ganzfelds are visual phenomena where depth, surface, color, and brightness all register as a homogenous whole. In Ganzfelds viewers are able to walk into a space where the walls, floor and ceiling are seemingly blurred or absent.
The only way the participant can experience space is through color, brightness and contrast.
In this light object people could only play the role of spectator; there was no interaction. Changes in the work happened randomly through preset programming.
