“Light is not so much something that reveals, as it is itself the revelation.” These are the words of James Turrell, a pioneer of Light Art. The field emerged in the mid-20th century, with figures like Turrell, Larry Bell and Mary Corse and Robert Irwin driving the movement. The aim was to use light, rather than traditional mediums like paint on canvas, to affect the viewer’s state of consciousness and perception. Fast forward to today, and artists employ the latest technologies, like 3D projection mapping and multi-media technology to push the boundaries of what an art exhibition can look like – think teamLab in Japan or the intricate creations of Marshmallow Laser Feast. These five exhibitions, on display throughout 2026, represent the best of the field, inviting audiences to step into an illuminated experience.
Templon, New York | Until 21 March
This show celebrates 20 years of collaboration with Iván Navarro, offering a chronological overview of the artist’s work. It is structured around three foundational pieces, each one an electrically animated sculpture activated through movement and video. The exhibition begins with Landess Land (2023), which reimagines the concept of an electric chair – traditionally associated with state violence – into a luminous structure that confronts systems of power, punishment and control. Meanwhile, Flashlight: I’m Not From Here, I’m Not From There (2006) and Resistance (2009) are both activated by the body. In Resistance, electricity is generated through physical effort, literalising opposition as friction within systems of power.
Dan Flavin: Simple Flourescent Tubes
The Venet Foundation, Le Muy | Opens 8 May
Dan Flavin is one of the foundational figures of Minimal Art. In the 1960s, he introduced a radical new perspective on system, sequence and repetition into the history of art, using industrial fluorescent tubes as his exclusive material. His Nominal Three (to William of Ockham) (1963), comprised tubes arranged from left to right in a numerical progression. The piece was the foundation of an exceptionally rigorous visual language, grounded in structure, modularity and light. The Venet Foundation brings together ten of his pioneering works, developed between 1964 and 1990. The show coincides with the 30th anniversary of Flavin’s death, reminding audiences this his legacy continues to ripple through contemporary art.
Haegue Yang: Star-Crossed Rendezvous
MOCA, Chicago | Until 2 August
Haegue Yang describes her work as “incubated abstraction,” drawing on specific historical narratives and figures to create large-scale installations. Star-Crossed Rondezvous brings together two major pieces made with venetian blinds, a window treatment designed with adjustable angled slats that filter light and structure spatial relationships. On one side of the exhibition, Sol LeWitt Upside Down – K123456, Expanded 1078 Times, Doubled and Mirrored (2015) is a monochromatic structure inspired by the cubes of American conceptual artist Sol LeWitt, whilst Star-Crossed Rendezvous after Yun (2024) pays tribute to the life and work of Korean-born Isang Yun, a pioneering composer and political dissident.
Various Locations, Bristol | Until 28 February
Bristol Light Festival brings light, fun and colour to the city centre across a free, city-wide celebration. The event, established in 2020, showcases the city as a platform for contemporary art, spotlighting artistic freedom and experimentation. This year’s programme features world-premiere works alongside some of the best local, national and international talent. The practitioners include Aesthetica Art Prize-alumnus Liz West, who presents two installations that transform Cabot Circus Car Park into a vivid, immersive world of colour and reflection. Meanwhile, creative robotics studio Air Giants presents The Cat That Slept for a Thousand Years, which sees a monumental feline sculpture gently breathe, twitch and purr.
As Seen Below – The Dome, a Skyspace by James Turrell
ARoS Aarhus Art Museum | Opens 19 June
The Danish gallery presents a monumental work that invites audiences to “look up at the sky and into yourself.” As Seen Below is a large, dome-shaped artwork, measuring 16 metres in height and 40 metres in diameter. Visitors arrive via a subterranean, light-filled corridor before stepping into a large domed hall, where Turrell’s previsely calibrated light bathes the space in colour and makes the opening to the sky appear both boundless and close. Turrell described the emotionally intense process of creating the piece, saying: “I am shaping the very experience of seeing rather than simply delivering an image. The architecture brings the sky close, so you recognise that the act of looking is the work itself.”
Words: Emma Jacob
Image Credits:
1. Liz West, Our Colour.
2. IVÁN NAVARRO, Blue Electric Chair, 2004. Blue fluorescent light bulbs, painted aluminium and electrical fixtures 120 × 78 × 100 cm — 47 1/4 × 30 5/7 × 39 3/8 in. Courtesy of the artist and Templon, Paris – Brussels – New York. Photo © Thelma Garcia.
3. Dan Flavin, untitled (to Lucie Rie, master potter), 1990 Photo © Archives Bernar Venet.
4. Haegue Yang, Star-Crossed Rendezvous after Yun, 2024, aluminum venetian blinds, powder-coated aluminum hanging structure, steel wire rope, moving spotlights, DMX controller, speaker, tripod. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Leap Year, Hayward Gallery, London, United Kingdom, 2024. Photo by Mark Blower.
5. Liz West, Our Colour.
6. James Turrell, As Seen Below – The Dome, a Skyspace by James Turrell. Photo: Mads Smidstrup © ARoS, 2025. From James Turrells visit in As Seen Below, June 2025.
