DAYTON, OH.- The Dayton Art Institute begins its “Year of the Classical Elements” with the special exhibition Into the Ether: Contemporary Light Artists, on view April 2 – June 26 at the museum.

The “Year of the Classical Elements” is an innovative, yearlong suite of exhibitions, all organized by The Dayton Art Institute, featuring 21st-century art themed around the classical elements—fire, air, earth, water and ether. Into the Ether: Contemporary Light Artists highlights fire, air and ether through an investigation of light, a primary aesthetic principle in art.

Grounded by the Light and Space Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, so-called because its affiliated artists employed light and dark, fire, smoke, scrim and string, among higher-tech items such as neon and fluorescent lights to create works that challenged concepts of human perception, Into the Ether presents a host of internationally acclaimed artists—including James Turrell, Robert Irwin, Leo Villareal, Erwin Redl, Daniel Rozin, and Diane Willow—who build on this idea to create immersive and experiential environments using the medium of light.

Melding art and science, the artists featured in this exhibition investigate the intersection of architecture, space, sensory experiences and phenomenological responses, as well as the meeting of virtual and physical realms, to create their work. Through these investigations, the pieces featured in Into the Ether break barriers between object and visitor, appearing boundless and creating unique environments that will ignite the imagination and encourage participation.

“The artists featured in this exhibition explore the philosophical investigation and description of conscious experience through the medium of light, without reference to the question of whether what is experienced is objectively real,” remarked The Dayton Art Institute’s Chief Curator and Curator of European Art, Aimee Marcereau DeGalan. “In this state, light, color and space merge, becoming far more real than any literal representation of them can be.”

Into the Ether is organized and co-curated by The Dayton Art Institute’s Chief Curator and Curator of European Art Dr. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan and Kettering Exhibition Coordinator and Curatorial Associate Katherine Ryckman Siegwarth.

“This is truly a one-of-a-kind, participatory experience that you will only find at The Dayton Art Institute,” says The Dayton Art Institute’s Director and CEO Michael R. Roediger. “The blending of art and science closely mirrors those traditions within the Dayton community. Our curatorial team has done outstanding work, and I’m excited to kick off our year of 21st-century art with Into the Ether.”