Lachlan Turczan Creates Immersive Light Sculptures Using Physics and Natural Elements

Los Angeles-based artist Lachlan Turczan creates atmospheric installations that transform light into tangible, interactive sculptures. His practice merges physics, optics, and environmental art, utilizing lasers, water, mist, and custom-built lenses to produce works where light behaves like physical matter. Turczan's installations often occur in natural settings or large-scale public venues, inviting viewers to move through and interact with luminous environments. Key works include the Veil Series, with pieces like Veil II created at dawn in the Mojave Desert using steam from hot springs, and Veil III executed during a storm in Sea Ranch, California. These field experiments inform studio works such as Light Object (2026) and Lucida (2025), a walk-through sculpture that responds to participant movement. Major commissions include Aldwa Alsael for the Noor Riyadh Light Art Festival in 2024, featuring three steel lighthouses along Wadi Hanifah, and Gateway for the Manar Abu Dhabi exhibition from November 2025 to January 2026, a 129-foot sequence of arches with laser projectors beside a mangrove reserve on Jubail Island. Turczan treats environmental factors like wind, humidity, and silt as collaborators, creating conditions where physics drives the choreography of light. He documents installations using film photography, considering it suitable for capturing light's physical qualities. His work explores how light can be experienced as material rather than mere illumination, engaging viewers in immersive, sensory encounters.