‘Tracing Light’: DOK Leipzig Review

Dir: Thomas Riedelsheimer. Germany, UK. 2024. 99mins

“Essentially the most stunning factor we will expertise is thriller,” asserts a quote from Albert Einstein initially of Thomas Riedelsheimer’s deep dive into the idea of sunshine. Most individuals are prone to be taught a factor or two concerning the physics behind the phenomenon through the course of this documentary however, in approaching the topic from each a scientific angle and an inventive one, Riedelsheimer finds the candy spot between data and sweetness. 

Accessible science

Tracing Gentle is the third in a free trilogy involved with the compositional components of movie – sound, time and lightweight – which started with 2004’s percussionist profile Contact The Sound: A Sound Journey With Evelyn Glennie, which additionally opened DOK Leipzig. It was adopted in 2017 by Leaning Into The Wind, a portrait of land artist Andy Goldsworthy that, by extension, thought of nature and time. Whereas this third instalment is extra diffuse when it comes to contributors, that includes each physicists and artists, it permits Riedelsheimer to think about the total spectrum of what gentle is, and what it means to us. Tracing Gentle’s sturdy visuals and accessible science ought to catch the attention of arthouse distributors in addition to the competition circuit. It will likely be launched in German cinemas by Piffl Medien in January 2025.

Among the issues Riedelsheimer captures are acquainted, together with rainbows and the aurora borealis, however the documentarian – who acts as his personal cinematographer and editor – is a eager observer of element. Via his lens, gentle glancing off the sting a WC mirror or dancing by a blue-coloured water bottle might be simply as fascinating as these grander spectacles.

UK inventive duo Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt – who create collectively underneath the title Semiconductor – go to the Superior Analysis Centre at Glasgow College to speak to Daniele Faccio, professor of quantum applied sciences, about gentle “as a fabric”. The artists’ inquisitive nature pairs effectively with Faccio’s educative spirit, as he explains that, whereas it isn’t sentient, “gentle realises you’re watching it and behaves otherwise.” In brief, he notes, “Photons are buggers.”

In the meantime, in Germany, inventive collaborators Johannes Brunner and Raimund Ritz go to the Max Planck Institute in Erlangen, the place they play desk soccer with lasers and grow to be impressed to create an artwork set up inside the constructing’s pristine white partitions. Along with scenes of sunshine within the pure panorama, during which British land artist Julie Brook talks about and creates her exceptional work, Riedelsheimer additionally takes his digicam inside numerous gallery artwork installations that bend and stretch gentle. In these areas we see how human viewers work together with these reveals, typically reaching out to the touch the beams regardless that they know they can’t be held.

All Riedelsheimer’s movies are involved on some degree with transformation, from vibration to sound or change by way of the motion of the seasons. In that sense gentle is likely to be the last word transformer, whether or not it’s bringing vibrancy to darkish landscapes as a cloud passes, or by being in all places directly whereas remaining fully invisible. The rating, by Riedelsheimer’s common collaborator Fred Frith and fellow musician gabby fluke-mogul, additionally mixes the concrete with the extra ephemeral, pairing conventional string work with extra otherworldly digital sound.

Riedelsheimer finds methods to deliver the troublesome scientific ideas dwelling, together with gentle being handled as a particle and as a wave, as he gently attracts our consideration to gentle in all its types, whether or not it’s glinting off snow or dappling a pool. Although this movie is, mainly, involved with our notion of sunshine on a philosophical degree, it additionally touches on the “evolving concepts” about gentle in science, and among the exceptional technological advances the physicists hope it could deliver.