Art + Technology Lab grant recipient I.R. Bach’s project, I want to know, was informed by the profound human endeavor of “knowing.” The project was inspired by a mysterious encounter the artist experienced while camping in the volcanic field South of Mexico City: the spontaneous occurrence of flashing lights in the mountains, a phenomenon that had already garnered local speculation. Bach set out to make sense of this inexplicable phenomenon by tracking their trajectories and documenting their patterns.

Rather than pursue scientific explanations of these occurrences, Bach was most interested in basking in the remarkable experience of being a witness to them. He recorded his observations with a low-light camera, which merely served as a record of the existence of these flashes of light, rather than conclusive proof of something previously inexplicable.

For the second phase of the project, Bach tried to emulate the phenomenon by developing a kinetic light installation and performance at the Griffith Observatory using a series of mirrored panels. Looking northeast from LACMA’s campus, viewers could see a light drawing emanating from a distant mountain.