ABSTRACT In this article, I focus on how four
artists working with light can reveal the different
capacities of illumination and darkness in shaping
human apprehension of the world. These artists,
I contend, foreground the very particular human
ways in which the visual system operates in making
sense of the world, for their work explores the
different ways in which we sense space at various
scales, from the body to the landscape. In Kielder
Forest, Northumberland, a Skyspace, created by
James Turrell isolates the qualities of daylight and
focuses attention on the impact of the sky’s light on
the landscape. Carlos Cruz-Diez’sChromosaturation
highlights the ocular perception and emotional
experience of colour, while Olafur Eliasson’s Model
for a Timeless Garden highlights the temporality
of visual perception as well as the persistence of
notions about the sublime to appreciation of landscape.
Both works underscore the partialities of
specifically human ways of perception. Finally, Tino
Seghal’s This Variation investigates the impact of
darkness on the perception of space and its potential
for fostering conviviality and sociality.