Author(s): James Putman

Art

"Light Works" is a breathtaking monograph by Argentine artist, Jorge Orta, one of the first artists to experiment with new media in the early 1980s, creating controversial public video-installations at the height of the military dictatorship. Emblematic of Jorge's artistic formats is 'Light Works'. Using extraordinary technologies that allow ephemeral images to be projected up to one kilometre in distance with powerful light cannons, the latest technology in image projection and computerized lighting, the facades of world heritage sites and natural landscapes around the world became his canvas of experimentation. The most challenging of these include the expedition across the Andes mountain range in Peru, culminating in the Inca citadel Machu Picchu for the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the Americas; inside the crater and on the sulphur clouds of the Aso volcano, Japan - the largest volcano in activity in the world - the troglodyte vestiges of Cappadocia in Turkey as well as many religious or symbolic buildings such as Chartes and Evry Cathedrals in France, or the Zocolo in Mexico City. He often collaborates with renowned composers to create outdoor concerts that gather large crowds for festivals and events, such as the Fete de la Musique in Paris with Simon Stockhausen.
Focusing on a significant period of Jorge Orta's pioneering research, "Light Works" explores the medium of light and reflects on the artist's personal manifesto, Ethics of Aesthetics and his engagement with a wider public. The book investigates the dialogues between light and the surface of intervention, the distortions the images undergo and the extraordinary colour effects that transcend the transitory nature of the work and leave lasting memories for the thousands of spectators who witness these singular events.