“Lumen: Helen Pashgian” is an exhibit at the Getty Museum that opened Aug. 6. The exhibit is part of a grander “Lumen” exhibition focusing on how light has been utilized in art throughout different points of human existence, from the medieval years to modern times. Pashgian’s exhibit presents the contemporary aspect of the exhibition. 

When viewers walk into an entirely white room, they are greeted by an orange circular object in the middle. At first, a sense of confusion fills the room. What is this object, and what does it represent? Over the course of a couple of minutes, however, the audience is transfixed by this seemingly simple, luminous structure. 

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No matter how hard visitors search for an edge inside of the exhibit, there are none to be found. The exhibit features a sculpture with an orange disc attached. When observing the disc, it fades into the white background of the room. Additionally, the edges where the walls usually meet were removed to create a curve. Spectators are unable to process the surrounding area like usual, forcing them to alter their perspective.

After observing the sculpture for some time, viewers start to see a blue halo around the disc that floats around after glancing at the object. This is an afterimage that observers’ eyes generate. 

The exhibit curator, Glenn Phillips, purposely crafted an experience that is personal to the audience. 

“This piece is a communion between what’s actually there and what your body is producing,” Phillips said. “Because when you’re in an environment where a lot of the normal sensory stimulation has been removed, then what becomes more visible to us is our own bodily reaction to visual stimulation.” 

The immersion that viewers experience in the “Lumen: Helen Pashgian” exhibit is similar to the grand artistry of ancient religious displays featured in another exhibit under the “Lumen” experience. 

“Creating what we think would be the type of feeling or the type of space, the type of reaction to spaces that our pre-modern person might have felt when they were walking into some of these incredible environments,” Phillips said. 

Pashgian’s exhibit emulates the sense of wonder people would feel when walking into a grand mosque, cathedral or place of worship. The grandiose artistry featured in churches is the opposite of Pashgian’s refined artistic approach. However, they both convey light in motion and profoundly affect the human eye.

“We’re so often just in the contemporary that anything that happened in the past, we think is so far away that it has nothing to do with us. But what if we think it’s so far away and it has everything to do with us?” Phillps said. “We’re just using slightly different tools, but the people were the same. They have the same impulses. They just have a different way of getting there.” 

Both medieval and contemporary works crafted a perceptual experience for individuals. Pahigan focused on manipulating light and scenery to conceive a journey for spectators. Similarly, ancient artists did the same but focused on grander displays to transport people into a different world. 

“Contemporary artists in the show really are thinking about perceptual science and sort of how that works,” Phillips said. “But the medieval artists were too in the way that they would work with gold, in the way that they would use rock crystal, in the way that a lot of these pieces were conceived to be in changing light conditions.” 

Pashgian orchestrates light to produce an artistic experience for the audience, parallels stained glass windows, lanterns, candles and other ways our ancestors created art through light. 

“We have this passion to create these spaces that make us feel like we’ve been transported to somewhere else, and to realize that that’s not just something that happens today, that’s just a human thing,” Phillips said. 

The exhibit draws upon notions of the past in a modern context. Pashgian’s use of light forces the audience to reflect and adjust their perception of art and life, a recurring theme in the art world. 

Pashgian’s exhibit simultaneously represents the evolution and continuity of art. Although she employs modern technology, design and practices, she captures the eternal human essence. 

Although each new generation of art appears substantially different from the last, recurring themes such as light show that the human experience never falters. 

“One thing we would love for people to take away from this show is to actually leave feeling, ‘Well, I have a lot more connection to my ancestors than I thought,’” Phillips said. 

“Lumen: Helen Pashgian” will be showing at The Getty until Jan. 26.