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THE
ART OF LUMONICS
When I first visited
Mel and Dorothy Tanner's Lumonics Light & Sound Theatre in Fort
Lauderdale nearly 15 years ago, I was a newspaper arts reporter looking
for something unusual to write about. I got what I was looking for and
then some. I went back to the paper and set out to convey something
of the Lumonics experience -- the art of Lumonics, after all, is first
and foremost an experiential art.
I wanted to capture the sense of walking into a space where,
paradoxically, everything is designed both to stimulate your senses
and to calm them. I wanted to describe the subtle scent of incense hanging
in the air, the taste of the hot tea served to guests, the soothing
sound of water coursing through fountains, the rhythmic pulsing of lights
embedded in the large industrial plastic sculptures that seemed to be
everywhere. I wanted to share what it was like to sit in a huge, darkened
room filled with strangers, watching and listening as shimmering lights
played across a wall to the accompaniment of music.
I wanted to write about being transported.
My editor, unfortunately, was a no-nonsense newspaper
type whose formula for my feature story-- just about any feature story,
for that matter-- entailed throwing in a few random quotes from people
reacting to the art of Lumonics. Then, in the interest of "balanced
reporting," it was recommended that at least one vaguely skeptical
source be cited. Just the facts. None of that touchy-feely stuff. So
much for my experiential angle.
After that first visit, however, I was a convert of sorts.
And much to my surprise I also became, contrary to my basic nature,
gently evangelical. I took friends and family to Lumonics and watched
as even the cynics among them begrudgingly acknowledged that there was
something about the experience they couldn't quite explain. Those who
were buttoned up with stress found that their tension had melted away.
Those who were exhausted felt energized. And pretty much everyone discovered
that they had lost all sense of time.
At this point the late Mel Tanner would probably nod knowingly
and utter a remark as cryptic as those of a Zen master. Dorothy might
interject a comment about the healing properties of light. And indeed,
there's an ample body of scientific research to document how rhythmically
pulsing lights can alter brain waves in positive ways. But that hardly
gets to the core of our response to any art that connects with us. I'm
convinced that a large part of how we respond to art remains -- and
probably should remain -- a mystery.
This exhibition
is something of a departure for Lumonics in that it takes the art out
of the gallery/studio/theater context and into a museum environment.
That's a good thing, just as it was a positive step when, several years
ago, Dorothy, Marc Billard, and their behind-the-scenes colleagues began
exploring the possibilities of the medium of video. As much as I relish
the whole performance aspect of Lumonics, I welcome anything that expands
the audience for the individual artworks in all their marvelous diversity.
This museum show -- and, I hope, more museum and gallery shows to come
-- affords that opportunity.
Over the years I have returned to Lumonics again and again and
have written about it several more times for more sympathetic editors
at a variety of publications. I have been amazed to discover that the
experience is always the same and, simultaneously, never the same.
On a recent visit to the studio, shortly before Dorothy Tanner
and her associates relocated to another space not far from their earlier
one, I found myself unable to distinguish works I've seen countless
times from others I had never seen before. I also found that all my
Lumonics experiences have somehow merged in my head, so that I remember
not the specifics, but the overall feel.
I'll say it again: The art of Lumonics is first and foremost
an experiential art. That’s only as it should be.
Michael Mills ~ Art Writer, New Times Broward Palm Beach
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