How did sensitivity to light evolve and shape ancestral living beings on Earth?
The installation “Light-Oriented Ontologies” takes a speculative and imaginative approach to explore this question. This research began during a residency at EPFL in Lausanne and reflects on the earliest roots of vision, sensing, and the conversion of light into energy and information. The installation comprises translucent objects of various sizes, presented in a custom curved vitrine, along with a video work. These objects are direct solidifications of light that has propagated through photosensitive resin. The crystallised light beams have resulted from interactions with different types of optical components and spatial movements generated by motors and manual manipulations. These objects constitute an open collection of shapes, which are ambiguously reminiscent of simple living organisms, organs of vision, fossils and organic-looking inorganic structures found in nature.

The work was commissioned and produced in the framework of EPFL CDH Artist in Residence Program 2022, Enter the Hyper-Scientific. Residency hosted by the Laboratory of Applied Photonic Devices (LAPD), Prof. Christophe Moser, the Laboratory of Optics (LO), Prof. Demetri Psaltis, and the Center for Imaging, Laurène Donati. Thanks to Jorge Madrid-Wolff.

The artwork was presented in the framework of the “Lighten Up!” exhibition at EPFL Pavilions.