History Hangs Overhead

If you’re looking to get out this week and into an immersive installation inspired by Islamic architecture — we’ve got just the local exhibit for you (actually, it’s the only one). Soo Sunny Park created ”Luminous Muqarna” for the Islamic Arts Festival in the United Arab Emirates in an effort to transform our experience of light from something merely perceptual into something big, heavy, and physical. The work’s sculptural elements derive from muqarnas, which are ornamental vaults found in Islamic architecture, especially mosques. A muqarna allows light to filter into the space below, recasting it in new ways. “Light is usually treated as a liminal element: something that mediates our visual awareness of the world, but not itself something that we see,” says Park. “In my work … light is part of what constitutes the artwork.”

Luminous Muqarna — Soo Sunny Park: Through June 18. $4-$8. Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, 10 Vernon St., Brattleboro. (802) 257-0124, brattleboromuseum.org.

— Hunter Styles