LIGHTEN UP! EPFL PAVILIONS
EPFL Pavilions, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland
25 November, 2022 - 23 March, 2023
LIGHT IN: The Biology of Time
Dates: 25.11.2022 – 23.04.2023
Venue: EPFL Pavilions, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland
DETAIL: Susan Morris, Binary Tapestry (Sunshine), Jacquard Tapestry: Cotton & Linen Yarn, 366 x 145cm, 2016.
We live on a rotating planet whose geophysical environment, alternating between day and night and changing daylength with seasons, has provided the framework for evolution. All living organisms, from cyanobacteria, fungi, plants, to insects and humans, have internalised this external light: dark cycle in the form of circadian rhythms – from circa diem « about a day » – that optimally prepare for the right behaviour at the right time. Unravelling the secrets of how clock genes tick was awarded a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2017.
Core themes of the exhibition are the day-night changes in light intensity and spectra, the critical role of twilight as a signal for the biological clock, and the relationship of these external cycles to our rhythms of sleep-wake, alertness, mood, performance, well-being, body physiology and overall health. Light via the eyes is the key synchronising agent for the biological clock, daylight the entrainment signal. In a 24/7 society, where urban lifestyles and work habits have gradually disconnected us from “natural” light exposure, rhythms are often fluid and no longer well adapted to the environment, resulting in “social jetlag”, depression, sleep disorders, and in the long-term medical sequelae.
In this exhibition, artists take concepts of circadian rhythms and the powerful role of light in regulating them over time to create works that remind us of the importance of daylight on biology.
Curators: Anna Wirz-Justice, Marilyne Andersen, Sarah Kenderdine
EPFL Pavilions
Download the guide from Heyzine below: