The French philosopher Alain Badiou once noted that art “must be as rigorous as a mathematical demonstration, as surprising as an ambush in the night, and as elevated as a star.”1 Few artworks live up to this aspiration better than the solid light films of Anthony McCall. His sculptural light projections are at once Minimalist in form and magical in effect, theoretical in essence and visceral when experienced. They are based on a rigorous mathematical demonstration, yet they can surprise viewers with a transcendental experience. McCall’s light sculptures are in a permanent state of flux, consistently refusing to be classified by the confined categories of art history, such as sculpture and film. They sit on the threshold of three-dimensional volume and two-dimensional line, positive and negative form, mass and lightness.
