BY ALICE MORENO | news@queensledger.com
It is often said that “it takes a village to raise a child” — however, the quote transcends taking care of children. Community is what drives the world; It is not possible to tackle the world’s issues on our own. More than ever, humans long for connection, and Alicia Eggert provides that with her art, bringing people together to illuminate a darkly-lit room with flashing lights and colorful lighting.
At UrbanGlass — a nonprofit organization working with Glass-centric artists located in Downtown Brooklyn — Eggert’s work is displayed. The exhibition, titled “At a Time Like This,” features two of her works: a giant neon sign with the words “You Are Magic” displayed, and a mirror displaying the words “All the Light You See is From the Past.”
The main event of the exhibition is “You Are Magic,” a giant sign that takes over most of the exhibition hall. It is filled with over 200 neon and LED light bulbs,
The catch is, the sign is completely turned off. To turn it on, two humans must touch each other while pressing on the sensor in the provided platform for the sign to turn on. Whether it’d be hand-holding, or even placing two fingers together, the sign illuminates into a magical light show, where the sign changes into different colors while a soothing and angelic voice plays in the background. The lights flash faster and faster as each minute passes, and reach a climax towards the end, displaying the colors brightly, reminding guests that they too, are magical.
Eggert’s reasoning for this tactic is a scientific fact: humans are conductive, containing electrical charges flowing through their bodies. They function as circuits, and as humans come in physical contact with one another, it functions similarly to a light switch.
“I thought, ‘Wow, how cool is that?’ That one person can touch one surface that has a small electrical current coming out of it, and another person can touch another surface that’s the ground,” said Eggert. “And then, if we touch hands in the middle, we are like a switch, [and] that electricity actually flows through our bodies.”
The Texas-based conceptual artist had previously displayed this piece, except as an inflatable instead of using lights. Using a similar concept of touch being used as a circuit, as two (or more) people join together, the piece would inflate, showing the same words currently displayed at UrbanGlass. It was first exhibited in Arlington, Virginia in 2018.
Across from the signage is another one of Eggert’s work — a small yet mighty piece that reflects on the passage of time, urging the audience to take in the present. Titled “All the Light You See is From the Past,” the piece uses an infinity mirror — two parallel mirrors placed together — that gives the illusion of a never-ending, infinite loop.
The lights flash three times in two-second intervals, each time with a different meaning. At first, it says “All the Light You See is From the Past.” It then diverges into the sentence “All You See is Past,” and at the end, it turns off completely.
Eggert’s work is never static; it is three-dimensional, always present, and constantly moving—much like the passage of time. Each time the wording changes, the message shifts as well, illustrating that in a brief moment, anyone’s life can change drastically.
“I read an article once that was in the New York Times, it was titled, ‘Don’t let them tell you you’re not at the center of the universe,’ and it was all about the way that light travels across space [and] time and the way that we receive it in our eyes,” said Eggert. “How light takes time to travel, like everything we’re looking at with our eyes is technically an image of the past, and it could be like from across the room. It’s just a split second in the past.”
With an interest in philosophy and growing up in an Evangelical household, Eggert is constantly thinking about the human experience and mortality. She notes that life feels linear — humans live a specific timeline, growing from a child, to an adult, to an elder, and at some point, will reach to an inevitable end.
In a world in which anything can change in the blink of an eye, Eggert notes that it is important to live life to the fullest. As her work will live on to future generations, she hopes to continue creating art that leads viewers to accept the timeline of their lives, reminding them to enjoy every second of it
“Ultimately, these [art pieces] that I’m making are a part of the world, and they are changing and breaking down over time. So I think [that] part of my goal as an artist is to like, make work that allows us to like accept that,” said Eggert.
“Alica Eggert: At a Time Like This” will be exhibiting at UrbanGlass, 647 Fulton Street, through May 4.
