Katie Paterson

Light bulb to Simulate Moonlight

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About this artwork

Light bulb to Simulate Moonlight was produced in conjunction with the lighting company OSRAM. It contains a sufficient quantity of light bulbs to provide a person with a lifetime supply of simulated moonlight. Each bulb burns for 2000 hours, and a ‘lifetime’ contains 289 bulbs, a calculation based on the average life-span for a human being alive in 2008 (when the artist produced the work). The viewer enters the darkened room and encounters a light bulb suspended on a long cable from the ceiling. The rest of the bulbs are lined up on shelves, awaiting their turn.

Updated before 2020

artist:

Katie Paterson Scottish (born 1981)
title:

Light bulb to Simulate Moonlight
date created:

2008
materials:

Set of 289 light bulbs with halogen filament, frosted coloured shell, 28W, 4500K
object type:

Installation
credit line:

Purchased with help from the Knapping Fund 2011
accession number:

GMA 5172
gallery:

In Storage

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Katie Paterson

Katie Paterson studied at Edinburgh College of Art from 2000-04 and at the Slade School of Art from 2005-07. Her work has explored themes of ecology, geology and cosmology, dealing with large and distant occurrences in nature and the universe. She transforms them through the use of everyday objects...