“Let There Be Language” (aka “The Act of Creation”) – Neon Sign Artwork
“The Act of Creation” is a collaborative neon sign artwork, created by Joe Banks and Zata Banks. Genesis 1:3 states “Let there be Light”, and John 1:1 states “in the beginning was the Word”, while the philosopher C.W. Morris defined semiotics as “the science of signs”. In terms of visual semiotics, “The Act of Creation” is an artwork which articulates a message that’s implicit in all neon signs – namely the association between illumination and language; and, in articulating the phrase “Let There Be Language”, “The Act of Creation” is unique among neon sign artworks in the depth of integration between medium and message, since it’s light itself that (literally and metaphorically) illuminates the nature of the play on words. “The Act of Creation” is the winner of the Cambridge Assessment Award for an artwork on the theme of language and light, and was commissioned by Art Language Location for exhibition at the Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge, 13 to 29 October 2016.
Art Language Location takes places at the Ruskin Gallery, Anglia Ruskin University, and at various locations across Cambridge, featuring contributions from Chris Alton, Anti-Cool, Joe Banks & Zata Banks, Felicity Barrow, Les Bicknell, Sophie Brown, Paul Michael Browne, Anna Brownsted, Catherine Cleary & Rebecca Ilett, Charlie Coffey, Daniel Cockburn, Sarah Coggrave, Dawn Cole, Elena Cologni, Philip Cornett & Paul Kindersley, Nadja Daehnke & Richard Dodwell, Laura Denning, Susi Disorder & Phil Mill, Jeremy Dixon, Gen Doy & J. Rogerson, Richard Ducker, Susan Francis, Nick Gear, Robert Good, Rosanna Greaves, Tom Hackett & Julian Woodcock, Will Hill, Nicholas Houghton, Female Laptop Orchestra, Anthony Irwin, Lee Johnson & Adam Bridgland, Annamaria Kardos, Mark Langley, Kenji Lim, Ana Mendes, Les Monaghan, Six Collective, Sally Stenton, Fay Stevens & Andrew Hallifax, Markus Soukup and Caroline Wright.
www.flickr.com/photos/disinfo/27282686972/
https://artlanguagelocation.org
The proposal describing the “Let There Be Language” artwork concept was first submitted to Art Language Location on 21 February 2016.
