Continual Light
1960-67
36 stainless-steel discs, nylon wires, 2 painted steel boxes, electrical bulb
239 3/8 x 39 3/8 x 6 7/8 in. (100 x 100 x 17.5 cm)
Musée d'art contemporain du Val-de-Marne, Vitry-sur-Seine
In this installation the entire room constitutes the work. The small disks hanging in a darkened gallery required minimal fabrication and take up little space, yet they create an environment that completely engulfs the observer. Viewers must reorient themselves as they enter the room, which is illuminated by a single light source; the process heightens their awareness of how they see and perceive depth. Inhabiting the space that is the art blurs the boundary between artwork and viewer. The work alters depending on the viewer's movements, which circulate the air, moving the disks and causing their myriad reflections to shift and change across the walls of the room. To Le Parc these works signified a new, more interactive relationship with the spectator, who, by moving, has the power to complete the art.
