Week 4: Containing Light

Light is something that can touch us, but we ourselves can never physically take hold of it. We can feel it's temperature if we hold our hand out long enough, but we can't grab it and throw it around like a ball. Yet, we can bend and manipulate it without physically having to touch it. What I loved about this Ursula Berlot piece is that it's able to manipulate how light is being viewed through the opposite of physically grabbing it. Instead, a mirror is used to trap the light right where it wants it, the projection compressing the light into intricate floating cutouts. It makes me think about the lights in theaters and how they have the ability to do the exact same thing with a light source, a lens, a reflector, and a gobo. I highly doubt we'll ever be able to solidify light itself and hold onto it, but with surfaces that reflect light, we can create the illusion of doing so.