Paul Friedlander

Light Sculptor: Scientific Artist

Email light@paulfriedlander.com

Website www.paulfriedlander.com

 

RECENT WORK HISTORY

Major commissions, prizes, exhibitions and other notable events. For more information on all topics, please visit my website.

 

Date of birth

Place of birth

Nationality

Studio

19 August 1951

Manchester

British

London

 

2010

·         Kopernicus Centre, Warsaw, Poland, new science museum, opened November 5. Wave Trio, permanent installation of three light sculptures, each piece 4 m tall x 1 m diameter each.

·         Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, Anchorage, Alaska, new exhibition opened May 7. Wave Theory, permanent installation of light sculpture, 7 m tall x 1.7 m diameter.

·         Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, new exhibition opened March 18th. String Waves, permanent installation of light sculpture, 9 m tall x 2.4 m diameter.

·         Kinetica, art fair, London, 4 – 7 February, The Wave I, light sculpture, 3.5 m tall x 0.6 diameter.

·         ARC 2010, London, 3-5 February, The Wave II, light sculpture, 3.5 m tall x 0.6 diameter. All white version of The Wave.

·         Shortlisted for Spitalfields Sculpture Prize, Exhibition of maquettes by shortlisted artists, 12 January – 12 February.

·         The Light Tree, Tower Hamlets, London. Permanent outdoor light sculpture, awaiting confirmation, delayed owing to budget problems.

2009

·         The Brain Unravelled, 8 – 19 September, The Wave, light sculpture, 3.5 m tall x 0.6 diameter, with newly developed digital LED chromastrobe, designed with assistance of electronics engineer, Louis Norwood

·         Casa Décor, Madrid, 7 May – 7 June, Light Wave, light sculpture, 5 m tall x 0.6 diameter.

·         Jerusalem Festival of Light. Jerusalem Archaeological Park, Israel, 10 – 16 June. Abstract Cosmology, outdoor installation, 3 sculptures 6 m tall in area 6 x 6 m, video projections.

2008

·         Via Festival, Le Manege, Maubeuge, France, 13 – 23 March. Timeless Universe, smaller version of installation previously shown at Sala Parpallo, Valencia, Mixed media, 6 kinetic sculptures approximately 2 m tall x 1m diameter, 1 sculpture, 6 m tall x 2.5 m diameter.

·         Exit Festival, Maisons des Arts, Creteil, Paris, 28 March - 6 April. Timeless Universe, same show as described above.

·         Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Souls and Machines exhibition, 26 June – 13 October. 4 new works: Spinors: group of 8 kinetics, 1.5 x 1.5 x 0.75 m; Enigma of Light, wall relief 2.4 x 1.2 m; Wave Function, kinetic sculpture 1.5 x 0.75 x 0.75 m; Abstract Cosmology, group of 3 kinetics 6 x 2 diameter, 6 x 2 diameter, 4 x 1 diameter, mixed media, various forms of light projection.

2006

·         Milan Design Week, 1 – 10 April, The Gate of Time, outdoor installation: the largest work so far created. Mixed media, 15 m tall x 2.5 m diameter, Porta Ticenese.

·         Sala Parpallo, Valencia, Spain, 17 May – 9 July. One man-show, Timeless Universe, two sections of retrospective work and a new installation. Entire gallery painted black. The most comprehensive exhibition to date, 29 exhibits, mixed media, light projections, largest individual work shown 6 m tall x 2.2 m in diameter. A conference was arranged with the show on the subject Time Does Not Exist. Conference speakers included the noted English physicist, Julian Barbour and myself. A catalogue of the show has been published.

2005

·         Wolfsburg Science Centre, Germany opened 29 November. Permanent installation, String Theory. Mixed media, light projections, 7.5m tall x 1m in diameter.

·         Waterlow Park, London, 22, 23 September. Installation as part of a special event organized by the charity Garden Africa. Group of light sculptures, 3 m tall x 0.6 diameter.

·         46th International Film Festival, Thesaloniki, Greece, 17 – 28 November. Installation of light art, mixed media. 6 suspended light sculptures, various heights 2 – 3 m.

2004

·         Feria, in Gijon, northern Spain, 1 –15 August. Installation of light art, mixed media fully blacked out space 6 m tall x 8 x 12.

·         CanariaMediaFest, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, 23 – 30 October. Installation of light art, mixed media, fully blacked out space 3.5 m tall x 6 x 6.

·         October Gallery, London, opened 4 November. Chromatoforms, opened to coincide with the 25th anniversary festival for this gallery and eco-culture. Light installation, mixed media, 4 metres tall x 2 x 6.

·         Kinetic Art Organization Prize winner. 10 August. The Kinetic Art Organization (KAO) was founded as a not for profit organization by a group of kinetic artists. There are KAO members in over 60 Countries. They are the largest Kinetic Art and Sculpture Organization in the world.

2003

·         Arenas Movedizas Festival, Gijon, northern Spain, 20 – 28 September. A culture festival mostly featuring digital works by Spanish young artists. The installation was in a chapel by the waterfront that is more than 300 year old. It has been converted to an art museum. Installation of light art, mixed media, fully blacked out space 9 metres tall x 8 x 16 m.

·         Left bank of the Seine, Paris, 23 June. Installation to celebrate the re-inauguration of a major kinetic sculpture by Nicholas Schoffer. This extraordinary work is more than 10 metres high and is situated in a park by the Seine. The event was to mark the moment it was switched back on after many years of lying idle, following attack by vandals.

·         Art Rock, St Brieuc, northern France, 6 - 8 June. Art Rock is an annual culture festival held in this lively small city. Other works included installation by sound artists, dance and musical performances. Installation of light art, mixed media, fully blacked out space 5 m tall x 8 x 16 m

·         Kinetic Art Organization Prize winner, 20 June.

·         Sonic Light, Paradiso, Amsterdam 13 – 23 February. The Sonic Light conference and festival chose visual music as it themes in 2003 and invited a large number of artist and composers in the field to participate.

2002

·         Art Futura 2002, Contemporary Culture Centre, Barcelona, 31 October – 3 November. Art Futura is one of the worlds leading showcases for digital art, held annually in Spain.  This festival was founded in 1991 and has been presented every year since. Three new works were created for the show, The Wave Equation 5.5 m tall x 12 x 2, The Suspended Wave 2 and the Hyper Spheres. The Suspended Wave is an outdoor piece that was hung from the 30 metre high roof in the courtyard of the CCCB.

·         Resonant Wave Festival Spannwerk, Berlin, 25 May – 8 June. This international festival brought together visual and performing artists from USA, Israel, UK and Germany. The new light sculpture, Manifold Wave was suspended from the 15 m high ceiling of the main transformer hall in this converted power station.

2001

·        Singapore Science Centre, October 2001 – January 2002. One Man Show, 7 suspended light sculptures hung from the 25 m high ceiling of the large central atrium and exhibition space, shown here for the first time. The exhibition also includes a retrospective selection of smaller works. Many of the works including the largest piece, the 10 m tall Floating Wave were subsequently purchased by the Science Centre and are now in their permanent collection.

·        Exit Festival, Maisons des Arts, Creteil, Paris, 6 – 18 March. Major exhibitor to this large international festival of performing and visual arts. Pieces on show included a retrospective of works since 1981. The most recent work, Wave Factory is 9 m tall.

·        Via Festival, Le Manege, Maubeuge, 30 March – 7 April. The Exit Festival was taken on tour to northern France.

·        Satellite Media Services company HQ, UK, opened 1 August. Commission for permanent installation, 4.6 m high light sculpture in the entrance to the new building.

2000

·        Nutopia, Britain’s first cyberlounge, Covent Garden, London, 2 January - 31 December. Light Waves III, kinetic light sculpture, 2.5 m tall x 1.5 diameter.

·        New Art gallery, Walsall, November. Opening of major new art gallery which commissioned one of my pieces for permanent display, see below for details.

·        for inter:face, a festival organised by Digital Summer in Manchester, 13 – 22 October. The Wave Factory, Installation of light art, mixed media, 7 x 6 x 6 m.

1999

·        Commission for the construction of a Nambu, an interactive light sculpture for the New Art Gallery, Walsall. mixed media,  2.5 x 2 m diameter.

1998

·        Receive the Ushio America Award for Innovation, 16 April.

·        Winner of Lightforms ’98, international competition organised by ASCI for creation of site specific interactive lightforms on a monumental scale. New York Hall of Science, 16 April  - 31 May. Dark Matter, 8 m tall x 2.5 m diameter.

1997

·        Commission to design and manufacture 3D scanner prototype for Tom DeWitt, American video artist and inventor 1 – 30 April.

·        Co-invent 'Megamouse' with my son, Jack, the mouse so large you have to sit on it and push it round with your feet. Performance with Jack featuring Megamouse and other light works at Technorama, Switzerland’s leading science museum.

1996

·        Author of Zip Art software for graphics and animation, a unique, powerful and fun approach to computer graphics. Mathematical algorithms from Chaos theory have been used to generate stunning imagery, but these take a long time to render. Zip Art algorithms can be computed in real time. A user with minimal drawing skills can create beautiful images with a choice of hundreds of fractal like drawing tools.

·        Commission for two nine foot high interactive light sculptures commissioned for 'Energy and Movement' by Mercedes Benz for hands on exhibition touring throughout Germany.

·        Open my own website.

1995

·        4th International Biennial in Nagoya ARTEC'95, Japan, 28 April – 25 June. Recommendatory Prize for the work Light Waves.

·        Art Museum, Walsall, England. 23 September – 5 November. One man show.

·        Technorama, Switzerland’s leading science museum. Commission for Light Spinner, Permanent Installation: touch screen controlled interactive 4m high light sculpture.

1994

·        Art Museum, Walsall, England. Group Show of Light Art in the town museum, a place known for its annual Light Spectacular.

·        Technorama, Switzerland. Group show: Lichtspielereien, various small works.

1993

·        Economist's Plaza, London February. Collaborative piece with Danny Lane, We made a work together, Northern Light, a sand blasted glass construction like a sail onto which I projected chromatic light. 6 x 20 x 4 m high.

·        Images du Futur, Montreal, Canada. Three kinetics: The Big String 6 m x 2 diameter, Optic Nerve, 2 x 2 diameter, Northern Light II, projection work 1.8 x 6 m.

·        BT Head Office, Art in the City, London, 1 July – 30 September. 7 m tall fibre optic sculpture, situated in a 100 foot high Atrium window close to St Paul's Cathedral.

 


PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE

Mixed career working as a Lighting designer, mainly in avant-garde music concerts and theatre shows, some commercial designs leading to licence agreements along with earlier exhibitions of visual art.

 

1992

·        Issue commercial licence in USA for 'Light Guide Lamp'.

1991

·        Issue commercial licences in UK and USA for 'Optic Nerve'.

·        Appearance of 'String Ray' on BBC 1 "Tomorrow's World".

1990

·        Appearance on BBC 2 "The Late Show".

·        Exhibition, Omphalos Gallery, London.

·        Attend and lecture, Arttransition '90, Centre for Advanced Visual Studies, MIT, Cambridge, USA.

1989

·        Exhibition: The Exploratory, Bristol;

·        Exhibition: The Young Unknowns, London.

·        Electric Angels, Slaughterhouse Gallery, London. First Installation of spinning strings light sculptures illuminated with chromastrobic light.

1988

·        Exhibition: Omphalos Gallery, London.

1985-1988

·        Lighting director for the Electro-Acoustic Music Association of Great Britain. Concerts held at: Place Theatre, October Gallery, The Royal College of Music, The Almeida Theatre, Queen Elizabeth Hall. Performers include Roger Smalley, Stephen Montague, Vocem, Metanoia, Francis Monkman and Steve Reich.

·        Lighting director for Man Jumping, Queen Elizabeth Hall.

·        Lighting director for The Electric Symphony Orchestra. Concerts held at: Corn Exchange, Cambridge, Bloomsbury Theatre, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Sadler's Wells Theatre. Soloists include Francis Monkman and Terry Riley.

1983

·        Exhibition Event, first public show of light sculptures illuminated by chromastrobic light, ICA, London.

1982

·        Lighting director for John Cooper-Clarke, U.K. tour.

1980

·        Special effects director , Oval House Theatre, London.

1979

·        Lighting director for Ken Campbell's 'The Warp', Edinburgh Festival Fringe & The Round House, London.

1978

·        Open Studio exhibition, Space Studios, Lewisham, London.

·        Lighting director for Notting Hill Carnival.

1977

·        Open Studio exhibition, Space Studios, Lewisham, London.

1976

·        Stage & Lighting designer for Bristol Revunions, Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

1975

·        Stage & Lighting designer for: Morphic Dance Co. Gulbenkian Foundation sponsored stage play, Crediton Community Centre, Devon.

1974

·        South Western Arts Association sponsored touring exhibition.

 

EDUCATION

 62-68

·        Educated, Cambridgeshire High School for Boys.

69-72

·        Sussex University, School of Maths & Physical Sciences. Graduated with BSc Hons.

73-76

·        Exeter College of Art, Faculty of Fine art, Sound & Light Dept. Graduated with BA Hons.