12. September 2021 / 20:30 — 21:30
lights down low – guided night tour
with Alona Rodeh → Schlossgarten ↗︎
The installment of street lights in the 18th century achieved two interrelated goals: it reduced people's fear of darkness and expanded the time span of economic activities. Today, half of the world’s population, and with it animals and insects, live under the influence of intense artificial lighting. If artificial light is scattered at a certain angle, it disturbs the behavior of insects, birds and humans. In Nightcaps, the artist questions the role that artificial lighting plays in the disruption of human and animal circadian rhythms, insomnia, fear of darkness–and the very regulations ensuring its disappearance. The artist proposes a re-training of our eye muscles to life in the shadows. Bringing back a sensory sensitivity that may have been lost in the wake of recent technological evolutions and finding innovative and practical solutions to reclaim some darkness on this over-exposed planet of ours. How can we embrace darkness and what can we gain from it?
This evening tour held by the artist will focus on the intersections and overlaps between the Schlossgarten and the Stuttgart 21 construction site, on the presence of urban illumination in transit areas and pointing out different manifestations of artificial light in this ever-changing piece of the city. The guided tour is part of the artistic work and takes place in parallel with the brief shutdown of the large floodlights of the major construction site Stuttgart 21, initiated by the artist.
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Walk: 12.09.2021 / 8:30 – 9:30 pm
Meeting point::
Naturkundemuseum Schloss Rosenstein /
Rosenstein 1
70191 Stuttgart