Every few months I feel the pull toward generative art and light installations. YouTube starts recommending videos. I bookmark a few links. Then other projects take priority and the bookmarks collect dust.
This post is my attempt to break that cycle. A reference I can return to when the time is right.
The work that got me hooked
Jim Campbell
Jim Campbell creates low-resolution LED sculptures that reduce video to its essence. Blurry grids of light that somehow remain recognizable. The human brain fills in what the pixels leave out.
Been wanting to do a similar project.
His portfolio of low resolution works is worth exploring.
James Turrell
Turrell works with light and perception. His Skyspaces cut openings in ceilings that frame the sky as art. His Ganzfeld installations fill rooms with color so uniform you lose all sense of depth.
I first encountered his work at LACMA’s retrospective. Later, I experienced it at Benesse House on Naoshima Island—I booked a room inside the museum and wandered the art in my pajamas after hours. Worth a trip. Benesse also has work by Jenny Holzer, who also does LED works. The Tadao Ando buildings are stunning too. Anyways, that island is one of my favorite places on earth.
Including photo I took that I’m quite fond of. It is of Lee Ufan’s Relatum—Point, Line, Plane. The two visitors happened to be standing equidistant when I arrived. Their clothing color happened to stand out from the respective backgrounds.
Photos aren’t allowed inside most of the museum. Probably better that way—keeps the experience fresh for first-time visitors.
If you are in the area, see his Skyspace Dividing the Light at Pomona College for stunning aperture colors at different times of day.
teamLab
teamLab creates immersive digital environments. Their projection work doesn’t do much for me—the LED and kinetic pieces are more interesting. Worth seeing once if you haven’t.
Artists
Joanie Lemercier — Light projections on unconventional surfaces. His Constellations piece projects onto water mist.
Kimchi and Chips — A Seoul-based studio creating sculptures from light. Their Halo used 99 robotic mirrors to reflect sunlight into mist. Also has some low-res type works.
Seo Hyojung — Procedural motion artist and professor at SADI. (Instagram)
Olafur Eliasson — Light, color, and perception. Currently showing at MOCA Los Angeles through July 2025.
Erwin Redl — LED installations that reverse-engineer architecture into fields of light. His “Matrix II” at MOCA’s 2005 ECSTASY show is part of what got me paying attention.
Communities
Genuary
Genuary runs every January. Daily prompts. One piece per day. A good excuse to start.
Follow the hashtag:
Discord
- p5.js Discord — The Processing Foundation’s JavaScript library community
- r/generative — Sharing and discussing generative art
- r/creativecoding — The more technically minded creative coders
Tools to explore
- p5.js — Accessible creative coding in JavaScript
- Processing — The original, in Java
- TouchDesigner — Node-based visual programming for real-time graphics
YouTube rabbit holes
Some LED projects that have been showing up in my feed, maybe useful references for later:
A fluid simulation pendant.
A watch built from a flexible circuit board and LED displays.
LED magnetic tiles.