Light And Space

When we go into public rooms we don´t normally see if a room is particularly well fit for its purpose. Say, if we go into a museum and wander through the exhibitions, we look at the exhibitions and don´t worry wether a picture or a bust might be in an over- or underexposed surrounding. We just assume that the curators and technicians do their job right in order to present us pieces of art appropriately. The same applies to other public spaces such as libraries, airports, train stations or department stores. All those places might have windows and skylights as a source for natural lighting, and of course artificial light in its many ways and forms.

The reason I am so interested in this subject is because of the way I perceive a space in respect to photography. Is a room good for taking pictures or not. I don´t use flashlight, so I check the lighting situation and can quickly decide wether I take out my camera or not. Museums are great places for taking pictures, because in most cases they have adequate light. I do not photocopy art, I just like to take pictures of things or people in well lit spaces. An object interacting with the space surrounding it, people moving about or looking at things. The room that exhibited things have, the room people have to slowly move around. Light and space is just there without us being aware of the fact that it is designed to do just that: to see things in a clear and appropriate surrounding and for us to move through that surrounding like flowing matter.

I took the following pictures at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

Chicago Galleries