[carsten nicolai & olaf bender / white line light / 2002]

This Saturday night is the second Nuit Blanche here in Toronto and the all night arts event promises to be incredible. There are a number of exhibits and happenings that have piqued my interest but the project I am bent on investigating is White Line Light, an installation by Carsten Nicolai and Olaf Bender, two of the musicians behind the Raster-Noton imprint.

White Line Light explores fluorescent lighting as a means of reading sound and space. The brightness of the slender lighting rig modulates in sync with accompanying equally sparse audio. The official release for the installation describes it as follows:

The sound and light work of Carsten Nicolai and Olaf Bender explores the limitations of what we can see and hear. Taking this as a point of departure, white line light uses electricity as a conduit to identify, define and lend shape to the invisible and inaudible phenomena found in our midst, at the same time creating a palpable tension between the work itself and its unique architectural setting.

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