Speakers: The presence of artistic lighting in the city

The second session of the symposium has the title ” The presence of artistic lighting in the city” and we have invited several artists to explain their vision on the use of light as an artistic medium and how it can engage the public in a special experience.

Moderator: Poka-Yio, Multidisciplinary Artist, founder and co-director of Athens Biennale

Speakers:

Aleksandra Stratimirovic, Light Artist, Curator, Artistic Director of «Belgrade Light Festival»

Born in Yugoslavia, lives in Stockholm, Sweden.
She graduated from the Faculty of Applied Arts and Design in Belgrade and completed her studies in specialized lighting design at the University of Fine Arts and Crafts in Stockholm (Konstfack) and Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm.
Aleksandra works in the field of art and light. She has completed a number of permanent site-specific art works for public places in Sweden and abroad. She is co-founder of “Lighting Guerilla” festival in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Core member of Transnational Lighting Detectives. Founder and artistic director of “Belgrade of Light” festival in Belgrade.
In last three years her works have been shown on exhibitions in New York, Stockholm, Ljubljana, Belgrade, Tokyo, Osaka, Verona, Singapore, Avesta and Paris.

At Urban Lightscapes she will talk about “Attention Light”, the need to study lighting cultures and the urge to discuss about the use of lights can take one to a new level of adventures. This talk will focus on her story about creating the Slovenian Lighting Guerrilla festival and the Serbian festival Belgrade of Light.

Valentin Ruhry, Installation Artist, Sculptor:

Austrian born artist Valentin Ruhry is a sculptor in the traditional sense, working with untraditional materials. Over the last years, light has become an important basic material for most of his works. The wave-particle duality builds the theoretical fundament for the usage of light in many of his projects, where light can be perceived as a volume in space but also as something substantial invisible. Ruhry, a former student of the University of applied Arts, Vienna and the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, has been exhibiting internationally (Moscow, London, New York, Berlin, Vienna). He lives and works in Vienna.

Tamar Frank, Light Artist:

Tamar Frank (1974, Amsterdam) studied monumental design and fine arts in Maastricht. In her work she responds to existing spaces looking at elements that are specific to the location. With minimal changes she relays focus and concentration redefining and analyzing the visual world. The spectator usually plays an active role in discovering the work as it reveals itself. ‘Sensing the space and how light influences our orientation is part of the process that brings the viewer to a new visual awareness. Frank’s light installations are primarily created for the public space. Here they are integrated as part of the architecture holding a specific relationship to both the buildings and their surroundings. She has made many public art commissions including a work for two skyscrapers in Vancouver (West Pender Place). Frank has also participated in several Light Festivals such as Glow in Eindhoven and Lyslyd (light and sound) in Copenhagen. This year she will make a contribution for the Amsterdam Light Festival.

In the Urban Lightscapes Symposium, Tamar Frank will talk about her experience as an artist in creating light installations in the public space. She will demonstrate her approach to the urban space and environment and how she responds to this using light as a visual medium.

Eleftheria Nteko, Stage and Architectural Lighting Designer: