Dan Flavin is a key figure in 20th-century art. Leaving the classical genres of painting and sculpture behind him, from the early 1960s he focused entirely on exploring and realizing the artistic potential of light. Using commercial fluorescent light fixtures, he created installations that offered new dimensions on our perception of space. This book is dedicated to his earliest experiments with artificial light: eight wall-mounted pieces created between 1961 and 1964, which he called Icons. The Icons are wooden crates painted in one colour, onto which Flavin mounted coloured lamp bulbs or...

Dan Flavin (1933-1996) ist eine Schlüsselfigur in der Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts. Die klassischen Bereiche Malerei und Bildhauerei hinter sich lassend, konzentrierte er sich seit den frühen 60er Jahren ganz auf die Erforschung und Umsetzung der künstlerischen Ausdrucksmöglichkeiten von Licht. Mit handelsüblichen Leuchtstoffröhren als fast ausschließlich benutztem Arbeitsmaterial schuf er Installationen, die der Wahrnehmung des Raumes neue Dimensionen erschließen. Seine ersten Experimente mit künstlichem Licht, acht zwischen 1961 und 1964 entstandene Wandarbeiten, nannte er Icons -...

-John Cage (Los Angeles 1912-New York 1992), by many considered the most influential musician in the second half of the 20th century, has decisively shaped our notion of artistic avant-garde--in music as well as in literature and the visual arts.
John Cage studied architecture, ethnic music and composition, taking free private counterpoint and analysis lessons under Arnold Schonberg. Influenced by Marcel Duchamp and Dada, Cage studied Zen Buddhism with Zen master Daisetsu Suzuki and staged spontaneous activities and happenings in the early fifties. In his later life he became a creator of...