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Lightshows and the cultural politics of light: mid-century cosmologies

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 13:35 authored by Simon RycroftSimon Rycroft
The practices of multimedia lightshows developed by the British counterculture in London during the 1960s are related to aesthetic practices involving the use and manipulation of light in Kinetic and Op art. Both reflect a new sense of matter and energy that emerged from the adoption of post-Newtonian understandings of nature and the cosmos in the mid-twentieth century. The stereotypical cosmic mysticism with which the counterculture is associated was more techno-scientific that it is painted. The London underground press is a good source with which to elaborate this more nuanced reading. The counterculture’s cosmic speculation was as much earnest reflection on new vistas of nature and the universe as glib reflections on a Technicolor acid trip.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

The Sixties

ISSN

1754-1328

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Issue

1

Volume

6

Page range

45-64

Department affiliated with

  • Geography Publications

Notes

online first edition 10 April 2013

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • No

Legacy Posted Date

2013-05-09

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