Let there be light

Copenhagen's subterranean Cisternerne plays host to an illuminating installation by South Korean artist Kimsooja

- ALICE GODWIN

Amidst the cavernous halls of Cisternerne, a reservoir-turnedA contemporary art space that lies beneath Copenhagen, the South Korean artist Kimsooja has created what she refers to as a 'laboratory of lights'. The darkness of the subterranean space is punctured by a kaleidoscope of colour, an effect produced as light diffracts through a translucent film.

Kimsooja's intention is to bring viewers on a journey of all kinds of experiences of iridescent lights'. In the first of three chambers, Plexiglas panels covered with diffraction film hover above pools of water, like portals to another dimension.

In the second chamber, water plays a greater role. Ripples caused by the slightest of movements are illuminated by lighting placed along the wall. Drawing on her early career as a painter, Kimsooja emphasises the painterly quality of light, using light as her brush and the panels as her tableaux. The result evokes an impressionist painting that dissolves into an abstract field when seen up close.

By the final chamber, Kimsooja's symphony of light has swelled to a crescendo. Panels cover the walls and immerse the space in a spectacle of colour. Standing on the viewing deck in the midst of a dark sea, it is easy to stumble into a reverie (though hopefully not into the water, as others have been known to accidentally do in Cisternerne in the past). Accompanied only by the sounds of the surrounding water, the installation seeks to heighten the viewer’s awareness of their own body. ‘I hope the viewer can focus on visual experiences in silence, and their delicate relationship with others within the space,’ says the artist.