Spotlight shines on little-known art form of Lumia

THE little-known art form of Lumia – creating colourful shapes and moving images using light – is being exhibited in a former department store in the Paisley Centre from tomorrow/today. (Wed. April 13)

The spectacular free exhibition, called Lumia: Performing Light, is being staged at the recently-created Art Department exhibition space by Outspoken Arts in the former Allders Store on Level 2 of the shopping centre.

Members of the public are encouraged to come along to see the exhibition of the experimental artwork of light artist and University of the West of Scotland lecturer, Trent Kim, from Wednesday, April 13 to Saturday April 16 between 10am and 5pm and on Sunday April 17, from 11am to 4pm.

There will also be guest Lumia artists, including the celebrated American light performance artists Joshua White and George Stadnik.

Lumia is an art form established by Danish-born artist Thomas Wilfred in the early to mid-1900s and since then it has inspired generations of animators and lighting artists. It uses light and moving colours that blend and change to create a unique and captivating experience.

The exhibition has been commissioned by Place Partnership at OneRen – the local charitable trust providing cultural, leisure and sporting opportunities to help people enjoy active and healthy lives – as a taster for the forthcoming new Film and Media Space, in Paisley

Trent Kim said: “In the current post-truth era, how something looks and how it sounds seems more important than how things are.

“For me, meaningful arts bring new perspectives for us to experience the world differently, and advance understanding of our very existence.

“Lumia focuses on how light misbehaves and how lighting as a creative act offers an alternative method of image creation as opposed to the traditional method, using it as a tool to assist or project preconceived images.

“In my Lumia practice and research, I also question how the medium specificity of lighting can help us see the world outwith light.

“For instance, a depth of image that we see in Lumia is not a painterly perspective, but a direct result of how light is contained by its void.

“During the first lockdown, it made me think of how social distancing as the reinforced void illuminated how we are interdependent with one another and inspired me to create a new work, Corona Blue (2020) to express our experience of being at that moment in history by experiencing it through the perspective of Lumia”.

Muriel Ann Macleod, Creative Producer with OneRen’s Place Partnership programme said: “Artistic experimentation like Lumia is important because it can change our perception of the world.

“Trent’s work in Lumia interrogates how light can create space and how light can create another environment to experience as viewers

“Place Partnership is currently supporting a core collective of film makers to develop a new Film and Media exhibition space in Paisley, experimentation and innovation is part of the theme of that space.

“Trent’s work being developed here in Paisley demonstrates the ambition, skill and innovation of Renfrewshire base Digital Art makers.”

Rikki Payne, Arts Manager at OneRen said: “This stunning exhibition of light highlights the sometimes forgotten avant-garde art form of Lumia.

“The moving image immersive exhibition uses a series of displays of text, animation and video documentation using light as the sole medium of expression.

“It’s very unusual for an exhibition like this to be staged in Scotland and we should celebrate that we can do this in Paisley because of the developing artistic economy and the ambition of our artists.

“This exhibition gives us some insight into the Digital Art work that is being explored by artists and students in UWS Paisley and Ayrshire. Often the public just don’t get to see this kind of work or know its being made by local artists.

 “We hope this, the first of a series of exhibitions and events, goes some way to address this disconnect”