Exhibition: Cold Light at the Turner Contemporary gallery
Lindsay Seers and Keith Sargent’s virtual reality Cold Light exhibition at the Turner Contemporary gallery is inspired by the life and work of futurist Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) who pioneered the design of our alternating current (AC) electrical supply system, writes Molly Pavord.
Cold Light highlights the extraordinary consciousness and non-normative ideas of a man who explored the possibilities of alien life and believed himself to be an automaton reacting to internal and external stimuli.
The research of Seers and Sargent into Tesla has been sustained through many years and developed in conversation with scientific experts from various universities.
Ms Seers said: “Electricity and magnetism are interconnected phenomena and nearly every occurrence in daily activity stems from the electromagnetic force. The eye is powered by electricity. The activity of the human brain has been defined in relation to an electromagnetic field produced by the brain itself.
“Tesla said we will never understand electricity.”
The exhibition is installed across two galleries which interweave physical and virtual environments for a surreal technological experience that blurs the boundaries between materiality and representation.
The first incorporates a multi-layered and dreamlike narrative through a fusion of virtual reality artwork, images and sounds as well as featuring Tesla in sculpture form.
Voiced by Bill Bingham, the narrative features words from Tesla’s own biography along with reflections on time, consciousness, and the significance of electro-magnetism in all things.
The intensity of the imagery in this space is reflective of certain neurodivergent states, such as autism and ADHD, and their effects on visual fields.
In the second room, visitors are invited to climb a scaffold tower in the midst of a VR environment to survey the landscape of projected images and sculptural elements, which includes a moving robot.
The exhibition’s name harks back to the invention of the light bulb, which in its beginning stages was referred to as cold light, as opposed to fire.
Lindsay Seers and Keith Sargent’s Cold Light / Picture: Reese Straw
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