British artist Anthony McCall asked a radical question: what if film could exist without a screen? In 1973, he created Line Describing a Cone to explore this idea, seeking to reduce cinema to its essential elements: time and light.

McCall’s revolutionary approach treated light itself as his medium. Using a 16mm projector and theatrical haze, he made visible what was normally invisible: a beam of light traveling through space. In his work, a simple animated line drawing slowly traces a circle over thirty minutes, creating a hollow cone of solid light that visitors can walk through and touch.

For McCall, this wasn’t just about creating beautiful forms. He wanted to deconstruct cinema completely, removing the screen and transforming viewers from passive observers into active participants. The light beam becomes a sculpture, the projection becomes a drawing, and the audience becomes part of the artwork itself.

After a twenty-year break from producing art, McCall returned in the 2000s, when digital technology opened up new possibilities. Advanced digital projectors, computer animation software and refined haze machines allowed him to create more complex forms and to have precise control over his light sculptures. Thanks to this technological evolution, he was able to shift from simple

16mm film loops to sophisticated digital animations. This iconic piece remains the foundation of contemporary immersive art, confirming that the most powerful innovations often come from the simplest questions about what constitutes art.

(Barnabás Bencsik)