Robert Irwin: Light and Space (Kraftwerk Berlin) | Trailer

'Light and Space (Kraftwerk Berlin)' is LAS’ newly commissioned and site-conditioned exhibition by renowned American artist Robert Irwin presented at Kraftwerk Berlin. 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.
Irwin’s Light and Space series consists of fluorescent light tubes in abstract, rhythmic yet undecipherable patterns spread on white walls with a high finish. Apart from being the largest work of its kind in Europe, this new iteration 'Light and Space (Kraftwerk Berlin)' for the first time combines white with blue-coloured fluorescent light tubes - these are positioned on either side of a monumental 16x16 metre freestanding wall. With this work, Irwin combines his interest in Abstraction’s potential for a vision devoid of any precise object, alluding to his painterly experiments of the 1960s, with his more recent examinations of the conditions of colour perception.
The exhibition is a testament to Irwin’s ability to transform a space: he intervenes in Kraftwerk’s notable brutalist architecture to create an experience that invites viewers to immerse themselves in his experiments with light and space, challenging our perceptions and how perception can extend beyond a work of art, or, as the artist puts it: ‘How art structures the way we see the world.’
Credits
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 Programmes
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, Visual Identity
MWB Theater- und Veranstaltungs GmbH
Druckservice Schellenberg
Und.Studio
visitBerlin Public Ticket Solution
Film Production
Directing DOP & Postproduction: Nina Wesemann
LAS Production Lead: Selin Sahin
LAS Production Team: Stephanie Richter, Zoe Büchtemann
Photo
Robert Irwin, Light and Space (Kraftwerk Berlin), 2021. Commissioned by LAS (Light Art Space). © Foto: Timo Ohler. VG Bild-Kunst, 2021.