EN About the Art Form: Light Art Performance Photography | LAPP
Engage with Performance and Choreography in the photography operation
What is the secret behind the Light Art Performance Photography briefly LAPP and where is the difference to Light Painting Photography?
LAPP is the acronym that stands for Light Art Performance Photography, a new style of art/photography that uses long exposures to capture the controlled movement of light, creating a “light sculpture”. LAPP-PRO is the ongoing work of Jan Woellert an artistic photographer from Germany that have been creating light art since 2007. Many people are acquainted with the basic concept of light painting and its basic techniques have been used by countless photographers and regular people noodling around on a camera. LAPP-PRO has taken the concept of light photography to the next level by creating increasingly complex works of art using a range of tools such as light sticks, flashlights and fireworks, along with the human figure to sculpt dramatic, impossible scenes with light.
LAPP-PRO is different, what is the different to standart Lightpaintings!
Light art appears to walk a delicate balance between something that can easily become a novelty effect of sorts and a finely tuned artistic style. Many people are aware of simplistic light art sculptures, including the style of “Light Painting” “light graffiti” but most of these attempts at light art seem to fall short of the full potential of the medium. Because LAPP-PRO used light as a medium, it causes the final project to exist only in a small variety of photography, be it a single frame or many in sequential order to create a stop motion animated effect. This is simply due to the fact that our eyes cannot be adjusted the same way a camera can, thus we cannot see this form of art unaided. This in turn raises questions about what exists that our eyes cannot see and what exactly we hold to be true or “real”. The fact that the duo uses no
programmed effects in their work adds to the surreal quality their work holds.
Because the art requires an individual (or individuals) to actually move the light around, this form of art takes on a performance quality. This is not to say that LAPP directly falls into the traditional definition of performance art, but rather it takes a large part of performance and incorporates it into both the process and end result of LAPP-PRO’s art. In a way this allows Lapp-pro to continue to use performance in their work, but without many of the cliché elements that befalls much of performance art.
As often as one might come across one form or another of LAPP, LAPP-PRO definitely holds the title of light art champions. Their use of composition, color and well, light, have been blended together to create astonishing works of unique art that stand out it stark contrast to the rest of the photography world.
Unknown Author
