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Kinetic Light: László Moholy-Nagy and Zdenek Pesánek

by Silvia DeCarlo

Leslie Magson

Kinetic light sculptures: László Moholy-Nagy´s Light-Space Modulator (1922–30), Nick Walter´s rebuild of the Light-Space Modulator (2010), and the "Edisonka" by Zdenek Pesánek (1926–30). The “Light-Space Modulator” by László Moholy-Nagy was designed between 1923 and 1932. The sculpture created moving light displays for theater, dance, and performances. It consised of three moveable metal and glass structures arranged on a rotating disc. The sculpture was first displayed in 1930 as part of the German contribution to the Deutscher Werkbund exhibition in Paris, and it was used for the effects in the film "Lichtspiel Schwarz-Weiß-Grau" directed by Moholy-Nagy. The Edisonka sculpture Zdenek Pesánek was designed for the Edison transformer station at Jeruzalémská street in Prague. Iit counted 420 colour bulbs and produced programmed light-kinetic shows regularly from 7 to 8 PM. "Edisonka" operated from October 1930 until 1937.