János Neumann Salon #2
János Neumann Salon #2
János Neumann Salon #2:
Art and Artificial Light
Formatlabor Berlin, transmediale - festival for art and digital culture berlin and the CHB invite to the 2nd János Neumann Salon into the Panoramasaal at CHB.
Named after John von Neumann, one of the most brilliant and controversial figures of the 20th century who was born as János Lajos in Budapest in 1903, the Salons are an experimental platform for the discussion of essential questions regarding the future of contemporary society's media, new networks and knowledge production.
Mathias Wagner K. in discussion with Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag. On light, the fluid entity, and its manifestations as the materiality of artistic expression - the attempt of a glimpse into the epistemology of the history of light in art. Mathias Wagner K. is the artistic director of the first Biennial for International Light Art Ruhr 2010 - open light in private spaces.
While the last Salon amongst other issues also addressed Neumann's calculations on the H-bomb, no other artificial light has ever been brighter than the explosive illumination above the Bikini Atoll 55 years ago.
The first part of the evening will address the technical and cultural conditions of illumination and its materials: a tête-à-tête in the changing light of the candle, the light bulb, argon plasma and arc light above Prometheus, Davy, Tesla and Edison. In the second part we will talk about examples of illumination in the context of art as well as about established positions of artists such as Moholy-Nagy, Apia, Speer, Fontana, Flavin, Turrell and more current artists.
Concept and organisation: Till Nikolaus von Heiseler und Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag.
The series is a cooperation between transmediale - festival for art and digital culture berlin, the Berlin-based artistic research association Formatlabor and the Collegium Hungaricum Berlin.
The event will be in German language.
Admission free.