An empty white space is briefly, brightly lit, before being plunged into semi-darkness. Five seconds later and the lights come back on again with a barely audible click. This action is infinitely repeated. There’s nothing to see here, no matter how hard you stare.
This simple conceptual piece by Scottish artist Martin Creed quickly became a standard-bearer for all that was wrong with contemporary art.
I looked at this piece upon the realization that instead of simply just looking and researching standard installations, researching installations that need to be physically experienced would be somewhat more beneficial for myself in the development of my project. My project has always been the idea where the viewer has to experience my work in order to feel emotive feelings such as anxiety or fear. Therefore, I change direction within my researching of installations to get a better grasp on how the viewers deal with installations that require the public’s participation.
With work number 227 in particular, what caught my interest with this contemporary art installation was the fact that all of a sudden, when you are stood in the room, contently just looking around, you are all of a sudden plunged into darkness without your knowing. This can cause irrational fear and anxious feelings as you are unsure of when the lights will come back on, or if they ever will. But also, if there was a member of the public who is in fact scared of the dark, at the point they are plunged into the darkness you can only imagine just how anxious and scared they must be. It was that I related to my project.
Here is a video of Martin Creed talking about ‘The Lights Going Ond and Off’
Alexandra Oddy | Masters 