Eric Corriel Studios

multidisciplinary art studio • immersive and interactive public art • art activism • digital/electronic art • nyc

Lightbox

Immersive light installation, 2014

Very strange photograph of a rectangular black hole in the middle, about the size of a cafeteria lunch tray. Emanating from the top and bottom of the rectangular black hole are blue rhomboid planes of light that get wider as they approach the viewer. Emanating from the left and right side of the rectangular black hold are red-orange rhomboid planes of light that also get wider as they approach the viewer.
Photo by Josh Reynolds

Lightbox creates a three-dimensional cube space using light Shown at Parallax, Governors Island, New York; Flux Factory, Queens, New York; UAP, Manhattan, New York

This piece started as a challenge: could I create a floating cube in the middle of a room? Could I create a “light helmet” that would enclose the viewer’s head in a virtual box of made of light?

Governors Island (2014)

Photograph of a dark room with a strong light source (projector) on the left side of the frame. Emanating from the projector, in a fog-filled room, are very prominent and sharply divided planes of pure green light, perfectly parallel to the floor/ceiling and about 18 inches apart. In the gap stretches a child’s hand, which creates its own sharply defined shadows in the opposite direction of the light source.
Photo by Brett Wood

Lightbox was first shown on Governors Island, New York City, in 2014 as part of Parallax—a summer series of installations organized by Jonah Levy of the Holocenter. It’s hard to do a light installation on Governors Island and not recall Anthony McCall’s monumental work, “Between You and I”, from 2009.

Photograph; planes of yellow light fan out from the top and bottom of the frame; a rectangular black hole in the middle; blue planes of light fan out from the sides. The planes of light reveal fog in the air. Two silhouettes of people with their backs to the camera are probably wondering what the fuck is going on.
Photo by Brett Wood

While McCall’s work—and certainly James Turrell (Afrum, 1967) and others before him—use light to create virtually solid forms in space, with this piece I am interested in extending this notion by using custom software to vary the color of the form in space. This, in effect, makes the “lightbox” surrounding the viewer’s head dynamic, which I think speaks to a future in which light itself is used as a medium to convey information.

Photograph of a dark room with a strong light source (projector) on the left side of the frame. Emanating from the projector, in a fog-filled room, are very prominent and sharply divided planes of purple and orange light that form V-shapes as they expand outward. In the middle of the frame, a hand reaches up from the shadows and creates its own sharply defined shadows in the opposite direction of the light source.
Photo by Josh Reynolds
Photograph of a dark room lit by two vertically oriented orange planes of light and two horizontally oriented blue planes of light. The planes intersect each other to form a black, hollow square shape (where there isn’t any light) in the middle of the frame.
Photo by Josh Reynolds
Photograph of a dark room lit by two vertically oriented yellow planes of light and two horizontally oriented purple planes of light. The planes intersect each other to form a black, hollow square shape (where there isn’t any light) in the middle of the frame.
Photo by Josh Reynolds
Photograph of a dark room lit by two vertically oriented lavender planes of light and two horizontally oriented yellow planes of light. The planes intersect each other to form a black, hollow square shape (where there isn’t any light) in the middle of the frame.
Photo by Josh Reynolds
Small thumbnail image of Photograph of a dark room with a strong light source (projector) on the left side of the frame. Emanating from the projector, in a fog-filled room, are very prominent and sharply divided planes of purple and orange light that form V-shapes as they expand outward. In the middle of the frame, a hand reaches up from the shadows and creates its own sharply defined shadows in the opposite direction of the light source.
Small thumbnail image of Photograph of a dark room lit by two vertically oriented orange planes of light and two horizontally oriented blue planes of light. The planes intersect each other to form a black, hollow square shape (where there isn’t any light) in the middle of the frame.
Small thumbnail image of Photograph of a dark room lit by two vertically oriented yellow planes of light and two horizontally oriented purple planes of light. The planes intersect each other to form a black, hollow square shape (where there isn’t any light) in the middle of the frame.
Small thumbnail image of Photograph of a dark room lit by two vertically oriented lavender planes of light and two horizontally oriented yellow planes of light. The planes intersect each other to form a black, hollow square shape (where there isn’t any light) in the middle of the frame.

Lightbox measures roughly 12’ x 4’ x 5’ and runs on an infinite loop.

Queens, NYC (2015)

Photograph of a dark room with a strong light source (projector) on the left side of the frame. Emanating from the projector, in a fog-filled room, are very prominent and sharply divided planes of magenta-colored light that form V-shapes as they expand outward. In the middle of the frame is an adult with their phone, taking a picture of the planes of light.
Photo by Brett Wood
Close-up photograph of a projector encased in a triangular, DIY shell-like structure that comes to a point about six inches in front of the projector lens, only allowing a narrow beam of red light to escape into the room.
Photo by Brett Wood
Photograph of a viewer, coated in yellow light with a particularly bright band of yellow light flowing horizontally across his chest, looking upward, with curiosity
Photo by Brett Wood
Photograph of a dark, fog-filled room, in the middle of which hover two rectilinearly bound, horizontal planes of yellow light. The planes are roughly 18 inches apart, and in the background is a small crowd of gallery-goers.
Photo by Brett Wood
Small thumbnail image of Photograph of a dark room with a strong light source (projector) on the left side of the frame. Emanating from the projector, in a fog-filled room, are very prominent and sharply divided planes of magenta-colored light that form V-shapes as they expand outward. In the middle of the frame is an adult with their phone, taking a picture of the planes of light.
Small thumbnail image of Close-up photograph of a projector encased in a triangular, DIY shell-like structure that comes to a point about six inches in front of the projector lens, only allowing a narrow beam of red light to escape into the room.
Small thumbnail image of Photograph of a viewer, coated in yellow light with a particularly bright band of yellow light flowing horizontally across his chest, looking upward, with curiosity
Small thumbnail image of Photograph of a dark, fog-filled room, in the middle of which hover two rectilinearly bound, horizontal planes of yellow light. The planes are roughly 18 inches apart, and in the background is a small crowd of gallery-goers.

Lightbox was shown at the iconic Flux Factory in Long Island City, Queens as part of the group show Parallax : Perspectives on December 19th, 2015.

The making of Lightbox
More Lightbox: