This study develops a theoretical framework for understanding a fundamental transformation in the role of artistic light: the shift from light as a visual language to light as a dramaturgical agent. Engaging directly with the legacy of György Kepes, the paper situates contemporary developments in artistic light within a model of continuity rather than rupture. Kepes’s contribution to twentieth-century art theory is examined as foundational in establishing artistic light as an autonomous medium and as a mode of visual research capable of revealing structural relations between art, science, and perception. At the same time, the study identifies the historical boundary of this visual paradigm, arguing that light, even when abstracted from representation, remains primarily oriented toward perception and cognition. The paper introduces the concept of interferential theatre—a theatrical framework in which Artistic Light and Artistic Sound form a unified dramaturgical entity. In this model, light and sound do not illustrate action but generate it. Dramaturgy emerges through temporal processes such as interference, resonance, phase modulation, and controlled randomness. Agency is redefined functionally, allowing light and sound to operate as autonomous actors within a non-representational theatrical structure. By reframing artistic light in ontological terms, the study proposes a theatre without anthropocentric actors yet not without structure, tension, or development. The transition from visual articulation to temporal action is presented as an extension of Kepes’s synthetic vision under contemporary technological conditions. This preprint is prepared in view of ongoing research and future scholarly discussion surrounding the theoretical foundations of artistic light and its performative evolution.
Daniel A. Freedman (Thu,) studied this question.