Robert Irwin 'Light and Space (Kraftwerk Berlin)', 2021

An experience that invites viewers to immerse themselves in Irwin's experiments with light and space at Kraftwerk Berlin, 5 December 2021 – 30 January 2022

Robert Irwin: Light and Space (Kraftwerk Berlin), Exhibition Trailer by © Timo Ohler © VG BildkunstLAS Art Foundation

‘My ambition is, in a sense, to make you see a little bit more tomorrow than you saw today.'

– Robert Irwin

Robert Irwin, Portrait by © Courtesy Pace GalleryLAS Art Foundation

Robert Irwin

Robert Irwin (b. 1928, Long Beach, CA) lives and works in San Diego, CA. Solo exhibitions include those at Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC (2016), Dia Center for the Arts, New York (1998), Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris (1994). Since the early 1970s Irwin has created site-conditioned installations and major architectural and environmental installations at institutions worldwide, including Dia:Beacon (2015), Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2013) and Vienna Secession (2013).

Robert Irwin: Light and Space (Kraftwerk Berlin), Exhibition Trailer by © Timo Ohler © VG BildkunstLAS Art Foundation

Robert Irwin: Light and Space (Kraftwerk Berlin), Exhibition Trailer by © Timo Ohler © VG BildkunstLAS Art Foundation

Work

Irwin is a versatile artist whose manifold oeuvre offers a unique perspective on innovation. Over his prolific, six-decade career, Irwin has become best known for site-conditioned artworks that use the effects of light to explore human perception and use of space. An early proponent of site-specific installations, he creates large-scale experiential works, using minimal means that challenge our perceptions and reimagine our environments.

For Light and Space (Kraftwerk Berlin) Irwin intervenes in the impressive, industrialist architecture of Kraftwerk Berlin, taking over the entire space to fully immerse visitors in his ongoing experiments with light and space.

Robert Irwin: Light and Space (Kraftwerk Berlin), Exhibition Trailer by © Timo Ohler © VG BildkunstLAS Art Foundation

Robert Irwin: Light and Space (Kraftwerk Berlin), Exhibition Trailer by © Timo Ohler © VG BildkunstLAS Art Foundation

'The person walking through the work doesn’t have to know anything about you or art. That puts it on the most immediate social level, because the observer’s referencing the same cues you are. It’s no longer an abstract referencing, it’s an experiential one. Which is what I mean by phenomenological: it’s made in real time.' 

 – Robert Irwin

A pioneer of Light and Space, a loosely affiliated art movement related to Minimalism and geometric abstraction that originated in Southern California in the 1960s, Irwin is one of the most prolific artists to have emerged from that scene. His Light and Space series was first conceived in 2007 and commonly features fluorescent light tubes arranged in rhythmic yet undecipherable abstract patterns on white walls with high finishes. Light and Space (Kraftwerk Berlin) uses blue fluorescent lights for the first time, in combination with the artist’s traditional white, positioned on a monumental freestanding wall measuring 16 x 16 metres. In another diversion from Irwin’s usual practice, Light and Space (Kraftwerk Berlin) is double-sided, making use of both sides of the freestanding wall.

Robert Irwin: Light and Space (Kraftwerk Berlin), Exhibition Trailer by © Timo Ohler © VG BildkunstLAS Art Foundation

As Director of LAS, Bettina Kames, has said:

‘Our programme enables artists to realise their most ambitious artworks, so I’m thrilled that Light and Space (Kraftwerk Berlin) will be Robert Irwin’s largest project in Europe. Radical and forward-thinking, Irwin’s interdisciplinary practice – collaborating with everyone from James Turrell to NASA – chimes with LAS’s commitment to projects that intersect art, technology and science. We are also dedicated to making art accessible to all and Irwin’s experience-based approach – he pioneered the site-specific installations that are now so familiar – makes his work particularly approachable and transformative.’

Robert Irwin: Light and Space (Kraftwerk Berlin), Impression from the Education Programme by © Michael Bennett, 2021.LAS Art Foundation

Education Programme in Collaboration with Ephra

Robert Irwin: Light and Space (Kraftwerk Berlin), Impression from the Education Programme by © Michael BennettLAS Art Foundation

Accompanying the exhibition, the educational programme developed in collaboration with Ephra is tailored for school children and families. In workshops on site, they can discover the exhibition, learn more about the artist and his artistic practice, and are encouraged to engage with the work on display.

Robert Irwin: Light and Space (Kraftwerk Berlin), Impression from the Education Programme by © Michael Bennett, 2021.LAS Art Foundation

Ephra is a Berlin-based collective of artists and art educators. Together with schools, art institutions and artists, Ephra explores new ways of art education and creates special connections to art for young people.

Credits: Story

Robert Irwin
Light and Space (Kraftwerk Berlin), 2021
Site-conditioned double-sided freestanding wall with 240 white fluorescent lights and 240 blue fluorescent lights 16.2 × 15.8 × 2.4 m
Light + Shadow + Reflection + Color
Commissioned by LAS (Light Art Space)

LAS
Dr. Bettina Kames, Director
Amira Gad, Head of Programs
Ruth Kißling, Curator
Franz Hempel, Assistant Curator
Jan Sauerwald, Head of Production
Flinder Zuyderhoff-Gray, Production Manager
Harriet Collins, Production Assistant

Robert Irwin Studio
Nina Howard
Joseph Huppert
Jeff Jamieson

Production
AECOM Engineering Company
ATR Akustik- und Trockenbau Raphael Raber Bügler-Jaeck-Heyse Bauingenieur-Gemeinschaft
Dr. Ing. Stefan Doliva
FMP Flat Mountain Productions
Gerüstbau Tisch GmbH

Exhibition
Arup
Holly Dunstall Lighting Design
Eidotech GmbH
Groskopf Consulting
Kraftwerk Berlin
Studio Kristin Metho
MWB Theater- und Veranstaltungs GmbH Druckservice Schellenberg
Und.Studio
visitBerlin Public Ticket Solution

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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