Text - Carbon Obscura - Federation Square - Green Expectations - © Lloyd Godman

Regenerating Community - Fed Square

Making Light with Carbon Magic

Light, science and art are intertwined in a magical way in Carbon Obscura, an innovative installation that references nature in a greenhouse at Montsalvat, the historic artist colony on the outskirts of Melbourne.

Godman has altered the walls and ceiling of this small Monsalvat greenhouse, covering the glass panels with black carbon paper into which he has depicted a horizon of trees by punching a series of small holes into the thin carbon surface. References abound to proto-photography and apertures that allow light to enter darkened spaces such as cameras, or rooms, as in the cinema. In Carbon Obscura such holes let in multiple rays of daylight which, when combined with water vapour from a smoke machine triggered on entering the space, enables a magical play of light that joins the dots to form a picture that is at the heart of this experience. Darkened greenhouse becomes virtual camera obscura, black void, a cinematic experience but one which allows different perspectives as we move in the space. The dark interior, like that of the cinema, transports us to another realm, where we engage with the phenomenology of light, not just any light but a three dimensional streaming spectre of trees. We are bathed in this swirling, misty light and become one with it. The intimate space is a reverie of nature filled with ethereal rays of light, casts a spiritual dimension that resonates like a kinetic black and white stained glass window. The immateriality of light takes on material form like a swirling mist on a cold frosty morning or smoke from a forest on fire.

Carbon Obscura is a kinetic and optical installation with a charge of elemental force. Godman employs daylight as the immaterial centrepiece of this installation. Its magical force, at once both real and perceptual, is a photo-kinetic experience that combines the virtual with the spiritual. Though the quality of light changes according to time of day and effects of the weather, bright sunlight and moisture in the form of water vapour provide the peak experience.

References to light-sensitivity abound, the dramatic role of light, the influence of early photography, references to the camera obscura and the pinhole camera. The installation is made up of light but this light is not captured by the camera via an aperture in a lens or a pinhole to make a photograph. Instead of one aperture there are thousands. It is a kind of photography, a drawing with light at its most fundamental. The substitution of carbon in place of camera obscura in the title enables Godman to move beyond the sphere of photographic representation to the pressing subject of energy resources. He embraces the challenge of climate change and the role played by high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The work highlights the role of trees in the reduction of these greenhouse gasses.

It is no coincidence that this installation is situated in a greenhouse. Godman references the greenhouse effect and employs the conditions necessary for organic growth – light, water and vapour both directly and through metaphor. 
Unlike the aperture in a pinhole or a lens, each hole in the carbon paper does not bring a tiny upside-down image of the outside world into the intimacy of this greenhouse, they do however project the luminance values from the world outside via thousands of tiny circles of confusion that light up the darkened space of the interior with a semblance of the real trees as they move in sympathy with the wind and the sun, with nature. The passing of time and the constantly changing light allows for new engagements with the nuances of this experience. However Godman’s punched holes combine to form a much bigger story, that of a curved horizon of trees.

The installation embraces photography’s beginnings, that go way back to times before Fox Talbot and Daguerre, back to Aristotle and even earlier to suggestions that the first camera obscura was in fact an Arabic tent with a small round hole, a rip, that acted as an aperture to project the light of the world outside into the darkened interior making upside down images. Carbon Obscura also references the Kinetic art and Op art movements of the 1960’s that are now being rediscovered, even reinvented, in many current media and virtual artworks in the form of immersion in projected light and interactive experience.

The twinkling effect of the light comes from the trees outside the greenhouse and happens as light bounces off the shiny leaves on these real trees. The twinkling becomes kinetic shimmer, light appears to be alive, dots are joined as picture dissolves into illusion and illusion turns into an occasion. Virtual trees appear to be immaterial and float on a vapour of water. We are simultaneously provoked and enchanted, bathed in the light of these magic trees. We ’catch’ the light as exposure dawns on us; we become part of the installation, one with the light, as we dissolve into phenomenological comprehension.

Yet this is an experience that evolves over time, our active position inside the obscura allows for participation, to transcend the sublime and play an active part in the unfolding of this dream-like art experience. Can active participation in an experience overcome passive observation? The experience of simultaneously being both inside the carbon obscura and outside in the natural world of elemental light and organic life is powerful. The horizon of trees becomes its own message. We become unstilled by this experience. A space opens for re-embodiment beyond contemplation that is active, even political, and allows for mediation between nature and the language of culture. The title of this work references the (camera) obscura in order to prompt questions - “What kind of experience is this?” “Can photography, video or digital projection have no machine, no technological source?” Closure is denied, there is no reconciliation of time over space, only our participation shines through this experience to alert us to carbon dioxide, climate change and the vital role that trees can play.

Carbon, not light, is the real subject of this work.

Lloyd Godman has expanded his environmental praxis, one that has spanned many photographic exhibitions and installations using light projections and photosensitivity. Carbon Obscura, becomes its own message, one that is powerfully communicated through the magic and wonderment of a phenomenological experience. We become captivated by this moment of connection with the forces of the universe, a spiritual reconciliation with the organic wonder of nature – the trees outside the greenhouse became light-filled images of idealized trees, spectres, hauntings, streaming ghosts of a future that will shortly be lost unless we take some action. Herein lies Godman’s message – the dreamlike qualities of the installation work on our senses to teleport us to action. They fire up our neural networks to never forget the experience. The wonder brings a shift in experience of the greenhouse effect outside the nurturing climate of the greenhouse of the installation. The simple eloquence of this installation comprising carbon paper, daylight and water vapour evokes a charge that goes beyond representation. We enter the greenhouse; it is hot and sweaty, filled with the rising vapours of gas, of clouds. Carbon Obscura uses the intensity of art to urgently question our relationship to the world outside the darkened room. As such it is an oblique call to arms on climate change, a unique artwork, an alchemical process, an unforgettable experience.

Carolyn Lewens 2007

As part of ReGenerating Community Arts, Community and Governance National Conference, Lloyd was invited to install Carbon Obscura at Federation Square and also speak at the associated conference. Carbon Obscura was originally commissioned by LaTrobe Regional Gallery as part of Green Expectations

More information www.cdn-generations.net.au/conference.htm

• Carbon Obscura as pinhole camera • Carbon Obscura as environmantal statement

• Extend your own creativity - Consider a workshop or one on one with Lloyd Godman through the Baldessin Press