InLight Richmond this Friday!


 
I am very excited about InLight Richmond, coming up on Friday evening. This is a chance to put into practice the idea of "bringing visibility to children" as our youngest citizens 
(see this post on the culture-of-children )
At school I see children investigating light in many ways; mixing colors, creating shadows, dancing with the light, manipulating it with translucent and opaque materials and projections. Sabot teachers provoke these rich interactions by arranging an environment that the children can’t resist.

The piece is twofold; it is a multi-media exhibition documenting children’s investigation of light and darkness, and it is also an installation which encourages the audience to experiment and interact with light.

So on Friday, we will create a light studio at the canal 
and 
using video, audio and projected photographs of children engaged in the exploration, we will inspire visitors to mess about and make their own discoveries about light and darkness. 
By offering the tools of their play to the city, we hope the children become catalysts for new understandings.


Click here to see a post from July- reflecting-on-children-shadows-and-light:
"Children have a rich and unique culture that is visible in the school. Not the ‘kid culture’ created by corporations and marketers, but rather a culture of interactions woven together with wonder and imagining. How can we share that culture? Could taking some cues from our youngest citizens make our city a friendlier, more creative and democratic place?"

Nowadays I think about the idea of a school as a political place, and activator of culture rather than just a reflector of it. It might not seem like a big deal- to get a bunch of people to play with light. But I hope it might inspire people to notice the way children approach inquiry seriously, open-mindedly and with great joy. Not just like little sponges, but as protagonists, acting upon information and constructing new understandings from it. 
What do you think about that?

here's some posts about the last time we tried bringing the children's work to the city, when we celebration our music umbrella project at Gallery 5 

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