Overview
Conceived from its collection, Longlati Art Center presents a group exhibition, Let There Be Night, on 8 June 2023, featuring the works of seven artists – who may themselves have long been in the shades of discourse (Vivian Springford, Luchita Hurtado, Robert Reed), or who constantly gazes into the dark abyss (Yayoi Kusama), or who are sensitive to observing and uncovering the hidden places (Lonnie Holley, Christina Quarles, Richard Long). The exhibition draws on their work to reinterpret the institution’s focus on the imagery of night.
Genesis records the moment of segregation between light and darkness. When God says, ‘Let there be light,’ the world, once in darkness and chaos, comes to light. Since then, light has been distinguished as a good essence that gives order from a lousy nature that produces chaos. As late as the 18th century, the Enlightenment, which claimed to have ushered in the Age of Reason, also emphasised the importance of light in its appellation – the root of the word ‘enlightenment’ shows that ‘reason’ means ‘to make light.’ However, the opposition between light and darkness was intrinsically associated with the opposition between men and women as early as the Pythagorean age. It’s also one of the arguments for Aristotle’s contempt for women. In the long run, male thinkers constructed themselves in countless metaphors about light but placed the others in the shadows, naming it mystery and irrationality. It was only when feminist criticism began to intervene that this historically asymmetrical construction began to be challenged.
