"Otto Piene: Lichtballett" at MIT List Visual Arts Center, 2011

Otto Piene was an artist whose light-based sculpture work occupied the intersection of light, technology, art, movement, and environment. First produced using hand-operated lamps directed through perforated stencils, Piene's "Lichtballett" (light ballet) performances of moving light became mechanized in the 1960s. The artist's early light sculptures consisted of revolving lamps, grids, globes, and discs operated by electric switchboards, causing what he described as "the steady flow of unfurling and dimming, reappearing, and vanishing light." This video highlights his 2011 exhibition "Otto Piene: Lichtballett" at the MIT List Visual Arts Center in Cambridge, MA. Piene was then Director Emeritus of MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies.