Michaela French

A body in light; a fundamental state of being. An innately knowable, interwoven and ubiquitous relationship which underpins and informs every human experience. Throughout history, the interaction between body and light has been an ongoing catalyst for discovery and creative expression. Light has been harnessed, measured, manipulated and investigated in order to expand knowledge and create experiences which abstract, re-frame and extend our somatic perspectives. Whether mediated by technology, visual representation or cultural paradigms, light focuses our attention, frames our narratives and dominates our interactions with the material world. 

This fundamental relationship between light and the body is at the core of this practice-led PhD enquiry. The research is critically framed by an ecological perspective on Presence Theory and is positioned at the intersection of fine art, moving image and experience design.

The study reflects upon the influence historical and contemporary thinking about light has on the evolution of human knowledge. Whether positioned in art, science or religion, light has always been at the edge of human understanding and acts as bridge between the immense, inconceivable complexity of the cosmos and the individual embodied experience of the world. This embodied experience is an immersive state, poised between intimacy and infinity. A state in which light acts a conduit; traversing and connecting nano, somatic and universal scales. 

It is possible to mediate states of presence in response to specifically designed artworks when the intimate and infinite are perceived as a unified whole. Presence can be elicited by activating perceptual cues intrinsic to the embodied experience of light through locus of attention, opto-kinetic stimuli, emotional and physiological engagement, and visual, aural & cinematic communication. 

Applying this approach through a range of practice-led methods, this enquiry establishes a clearly defined criteria for the production, analysis and evaluation of a collection of light-based artworks, immersive projection films and real world interventions designed to evoke states of presence in an audience. The investigation culminates with the production of a Presence Design lexicon which emerges from the practice-led research. This resource will identify and articulate the specific design strategies and approaches necessary to elicit states presence through the mediation of light and embodiment.