Anthony McCall- The Solid Light-hybrid of performance and film

anthony mccall's work at serpentine gallery was described to me as a you-must-go-see-this piece,  by a composer friend. this was in response to me talking about using the technology as objects which begin performing themselves, he thought this solid light piece of mccalls'  was clever in the installation experience enjoyed through moving within a beam of light, the bit normally never drawn to your attention. however, doug was less impressed, saying its been so done before...best then to experience its liveness for myself rather than via second hand retelling or dare i say it, dead documentation of it.

i went to see it and the entrance of a exhibition of process work left me cold- looked like gobledegook token process work (all art students are dying to see an artists sketchbook so lets put them out- couldn't this have been at the back of the exhibition?) and ventured into the first room of more conventional style screenings of film- where you shuffle around sitting/standing/people annoyingly walking in front of you in viewing a projection. can't remember what it actually was though, interestingly. ( i have always hated this method of screening films in galleries, positioned where people keep walking through the image (back projecting where possible?), but even more so monitors so not sure which is worse)

moving into the solid light installation was then the complete opposite- the whole point was to be in the beam of light, and so very refreshing, not to be cinematically arranged with projector there, passive me here- and now we were in an inextricably participatory relationship. less important was the image- although the image curved was shaping the light beam.smoke also hit the beam of light, a naff effect but it was highly sculptural increasing the appearance of the lights solidity.

i loved this piece for many reasons; the interaction and playfulness of activating people in the space to react and interact (although was gutted that was stopped from photographic or videoing this (and who had dictated this- artist/gallery)- if it was in the turbine hall would have been! and was pleased to find sneaky vids on youtube for the purposes of in some derivitive way representing the experience or rather an aide memoire). i loved the solidity broken by a persons head/hands moving in the light, and how this then reshaped the projected light, and when they moved, how it was 'repaired' and solid once again- fleetingly material.

i thought that it would make a great space for a soundscape/ movement performance, maybe some development of the improvisation workshop neil, lena and i did along the crack in the turbine hall could have been situated here, but size of space would dictate the degree of motion and would have impacted on the audience thus more directly, slight repetitive movements  a possibility or holding screen over the beam to sculpt it.

the trouble with this show was when i realised that these digital  solid light installations had roots in celluloid film projected  installations 20 years previously was that i wanted to be able to experience that myself to explore the similarities and differences; the sounds of the projectors, their presence , lines or shapes projected, etc etc. why weren't they included in this retrospective? a great shame for me when in addressing the realtionship between traditional and digital means