Light Show

Last weekend I found myself with a, surprisingly rare, free Sunday morning and took the opportunity to head down to the Hayward Gallery on South Bank for the Light Show exhibition.

Naturally as a lighting designer I had a particularly keen interest in the subject matter, but I can’t recommend the exhibition enough to everyone.  Designer, or otherwise, the exhibition is a collection of fantastic examples of art, technology and lighting, spanning from works in the 1960s through to present day.

The exhibition is a wonderful assault on the senses, demonstrating how strong and powerful the sense of vision is.  From the mesmerising Cylinder II as you walk in, to the astounding effects of Chromosaturation and the slightly unnerving Reality Show, here are some of my favourite pieces from the exhibition.

Cylinder II, Leo Villareal
Cylinder II is the first piece that you come across in the exhibition, and it sets the tone for the high quality of artefacts in the room.  Over 19,000 LEDs in a piercing cool white CCT are stacked in highly polished mirror finish housings to form endlessly changing patterns.

Evocative of “meteor showers, falling snow, clouds of fireflies and other natural phenomena” the software used to program and control it is set on the ‘ultimate shuffle scheme’, where the pattern and effects never repeat.  With varying brightness, speed and direction, the whole sculpture captured my gaze into a trance-like manner, mesmerised with the patterns of oscillation.

Exploded View (Commuters), Jim Campbell
Combining some clever technology, Exploded View (Commuters) becomes immersed into the gallery space, subtly interacting with the audience as more people pass by.  Linked to a sensor as you approach the sculpture down a small stair, the rippling effects of LEDs blinking on and off is directly related to the passers-by.

From almost every viewpoint as you walk 360 degrees around the 1,000 suspended LED point sources, the blinking appears as a random array, but, from from a certain distance and at a particular angle, a discernible image emerges as a shadowy figure.  You notice it in a second as you move around, and then in the following second it is gone.  As more people pass through your viewpoint is lost to the flickering patterns that follow.

Wedgework V, James Turrell
I won’t spoil the surprise on this one, but approaching the exhibit by feeling you way along a pitch black corridor the softly glowing colours are not all they seem.

By spending up to 15 minutes in the room your eyes adjust to the light levels, gradually seeing more than when you first entered.

Slow Arc Inside A Cube IV, Conrad Shawcross
Enclosed in its own space behind a curtain, the slow arc is a show of a deceptively powerful shadow effect.

Inspired by the “immensely complicated process of mapping the molecular structure of insulin” the slowly rotating arm spins a light source through varying angles of orientation, swirling the grid-like shadows across all surfaces in the room.  Walking across the room is a bewildering experience, your brain, confused by the “moving surfaces”, struggles to coordinate with walking in a straight line and I found myself following others out the room by carefully sliding my palms along the flat wall for reassurance!

Chromosaturation, Carlos Cruz-Diez
Chromosaturation was my absolute personal favourite of the exhibition.  A real highlight demonstrating colour and human perception more simply and powerfully than words ever could.  Must be experienced in person to be fully appreciated!

Colour becomes a situation happening in space

Donning shoe covers you step into the first of three pristine white connected rooms, each flooded in a single colour – one red, one green, one blue.

Immersing yourself in the monochromacity your eyes view skin tones and clothing colours completely differently (skin looking particularly awful under green!).  Since your retina is used to perceiving a wide range of colours simultaneously these “monochromatic situations cause disturbances”.

The initially intense colour eventually “fades” to a pale, verging on white, imitation until you move along into the next room.  The green now comes across more vibrant than ever, and a glance back shows the “pale” red as a rich and intense pink, with the once blue room further along seemingly transformed to the most vibrant purple.

There are many more on show at the exhibition, and even those I’ve just mentioned take on far more impact and effect when experienced in person.  A true visual treat.

The exhibition runs until May 6th and if you do get a chance to visit I really recommend it.  It’s fantastic.

Images from http://www.haywardlightshow.co.uk

Arcades

As a lighting designer I’m often collecting images and bookmarking articles of inspiration in my work, but when I came across Arcades by Troika it was too good not to share.

Balancing simple principles of physics it took careful experimentation to transform the initial concept image into reality.

As part of the Future Primitives Project for this week’s Biennale Interieur 2012 in Belgium, the deceptively simple installation of bent light archways uses Fresnel lenses to refract the rays of light through a single focal point.

Cleverly, this doesn’t just alter the direction of the beam of light, it bends it hyperbolically to create the mysterious arches.

The installation venue was deliberately chosen as a space with strong brick walls and exposed beams to further enhance the notion of “inscribing one architectural space within another”.  The light forms something almost tangible, must be quite a surreal sensation to walk through it.

Amazing stuff.  More info on the Troika site.

Jonathan Speirs, 1958-2012

It was with great sadness that late last night I read that Jonathan Speirs had passed away after a long battle with cancer.

You may not know who Jonathan Speirs is, but I am sure you will know his work. Speirs is the lighting designer responsible for such incredible designs as the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, Barajas Airport in Madrid, and the Gateshead Millenium Bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Working as a lighting designer myself I am more than aware of his work and what he has done for the industry.  I never met the man, but like so many others, was continually inspired by his works. My Creative Director at Neolight Design knew Jonathan well and worked with him for many years, not least on the facade of one of the world’s most iconic structures – the Burj al Arab, with nothing but praise for him.

Through others I was very much influenced by his teachings and works, the cleverest of details simply transforming buildings and projects to something awe-inspiring.

Jonathan is a huge loss to all involved in the creative and design industry, not just constrained to either lighting or architecture.  I even noted Speirs as one of my greatest sources of inspiration when Lighting Magazine interviewed me last year!

Tributes from colleagues of Jonathan’s over on Lux Magazine say so much, as does an incredibly poignant tribute from Mark Major, Jonathan’s friend and creative partner.

Faceture

New Zealand based designer Phil Cuttance has a rather impressive series of vase and lightshade sculptures in his portfolio.

Known collectively as Faceture, each object is produced by casting a water-based resin into a simple moulding which has been manipulated by hand to give the object a completely unique form.

In a recent video Phil has lifted the curtain on the production process behind his series of Faceture sculptures, giving a rare insight into the manufacturing techniques used.

The casting takes shape complete with sharp accurate lines and a digital quality to its aesthetic, a visual ‘surprise’ considering the ‘lo-fi’, hand-made process involved.

The material used to cast these wonderfully tactile creations is Jesmonite, and the “low-tech” casting jig on the machine allows Phil to view directly into the mould and control the flow of the quick-set composite.  This allows it to be cast evenly to produce a uniformly strong wall thickness.

The final shape of the mould is dictated by triangular facets “popped” in and out by the designer.  Phil does the “popping” between every casting to ensure that no two of his creations take on the same form, so you’re sure to get an absolutely unique product!

The Faceture project was created with the support of Creative New Zealand.

LED Surfer

Eerily beautiful work from photographer and film maker Jacob Sutton.

Teaming up with Artec pro snowboarder William Hughes, he convinced him to don an entirely unique LED suit designed by electronics expert John Spatcher, and hit the slopes of Tignes at Rhône-Alpes in temperatures down to -25 degrees!

Sutton captured all the footage over three nights, following the light surfer through the snow on a skidoo with only a Red Epic camera at his disposal.

The finished video assumes an elegant and ethereal quality, and manages to look quite effortless despite the huge amount of work that went into it.

Stunning stuff.

Via Nowness.

Light World Tour Interview With Paula Rainha

As a bit of a Christmas treat I recently got asked to interview lighting designer Paula Rainha.  Paula has just finished on a project I’m extremely envious of – the Philips Light World Tour.

The Light World Tour was a chance to follow the experience and travels of Paula as she discovered the world’s most inspirational lighting installations and designs in the world over a three month period at the tail end of 2011.

From the likes of Dubai (a place I’m slightly more familiar with) to Tokyo, Perth, Laukvik and more (places I’m certainly not!).  You can check out the full route here and judging by the regularly updated blog the whole experience looked rather spectacular.

Tokyo

And so given the opportunity to ask a few questions I got in touch and it went something like this…

Inspirational Geek:  So Paula, for my readers that may not be so familiar with you, I believe you trained as an architect, what made you make the move into lighting?

Paula Rainha:  At some point in my life I had to choose between Dance and Architecture, and I eventually chose the latter. When I finished Architecture, part of me still wanted to connect the two subjects and I started looking for a course in light stage design. I ended up finding a lighting master at an Architectural School, which interested me. Since then it just made sense working in Architectural Lighting.

IG:  What inspires your work?

PR:  Creativity and people more than anything. I love the human side of design either by working with people or designing for people as the end users.

Madrid

IG:  It must have been such a fantastic opportunity for you to explore the world, myself amongst many others were quite jealous!  What have you learnt whilst on the WT?

PR:  Light is not something that you can actually see from pretty pictures but you actually need to experience it, if you think that perception is one of the key elements for lighting. So having had the chance of perceiving it myself was a great learning process for me as a professional and as an individual. I always tried to talk to  as much people as I could, not only designers or architects but general people and this was really interesting also because all the cultural differences on how people perceive lighting.  People are not really aware of the importance of lighting and neither how good lighting design can be beneficial for them.

IG:  I’ve been following the WT blog and one of my favourite photos of yours has been the peony petals on the beautiful facade of the Liuli China Museum in Shanghai.  What were the particular highlights and experiences for you?

PR:  I loved that museum too. It was very special. The intensity and speed of the trip was actually determinant on how experienced it. Everything was really intense and is very fresh on my mind, meaning that I still find it very difficult to have enough distance to judge what were my highlights. I think the most interesting part of the trip was actually the human side of it: talking to people, meeting different designers, architects, friends and just learning from what I saw and heard.

Shanghai

IG:  What was your favourite stop off on the tour?

PR:  I love all the big metropolis such as London, NYC, Sydney, Hong-Kong, Tokyo, Berlin, Amsterdam but I also liked the natural landscapes such as Arizona and the Lofoten Islands in Norway.

Dubai

IG:  What was your favourite lighting installation / design that you encountered?

PR:  Most of the light art installations I found were really interesting to experience, from Janet Echelman´s sculptures in Sydney, Phoenix & Porto to Victoria Coeln´s light-colour paints in Vienna or Olafur´s installations in Oslo & Copenhagen amongst others.

Janet Echelman light sculptures in Sydney and Phoenix.

Victoria Coeln’s Chromotop in the Stephansdom, Vienna

IG:  What are the biggest differences in lighting design you encountered between different countries and cultures on the tour?  How does LD in the far east for example, compare to Europe?

PR:  I was actually quite surprised to realise that Lighting Design is not that well known or developed as I had imagined, even in bigger cities or more developed countries. Obviously with the actual economic situation across Europe the development of light design might become slower than actually some places in the Far East. In China for example I heard that clients and investors are becoming more aware of the potential of light and asking for lighting consultants to be part of the design teams.

London

IG:  Has your perception of lighting industry changed since you’ve been on this tour?

PR:  Yes, it has changed in the sense that the lighting industry actually should be raising the importance of good lighting around the world. The more I learn about light, the more I think this would be crucial and beneficial for all of us.

Olafur in Oslo

IG:  The tour has been quite full on for you, what do you plan to do now you’re back?

PR:  I would like to be more involved in raising awareness of the importance of light in our own environments. Nevertheless I´m still thinking of what to do with all the information I gathered throughout these three months, it would be interesting to turn this into something more physical either a publication or an exhibition. These are just some thoughts for now…

IG:  Does anything frustrate you about the industry?

PR:  There is nothing major that frustrates me about the industry but I´d like to see manufacturers and designers pushing towards the same goal and that would be good lighting.

IG:  Which project or piece of work of yours are you most proud of?

PR:  I would like to see the Mayfair & Belgravia lighting masterplan in London being implemented from when I worked at BDP Lighting. Every time I pass a COS (Collection of Style) store around the world I know that I was part of this when I developed all the roll out manual with Campbell Design. Or recently, a temporary exhibition for the Triennale of Architecture in Lisbon, where overcoming the challenge of time, budget and design and the site constraints was very self rewarding.

IG:  Who, if any, are your design heroes?

PR:  I´m not sure if I have design heroes but I find that many light artists are a real source of inspiration. Secretly I feel that one day I´d like to do amazing things such as the ones of James Turrel and Olafur Eliasson´s for example.

Your Blind Passenger in Copenhagen

A big thanks to Paula for taking the time out to answer my questions, and to Philips in their support of the World Tour itself.  You can check out loads more great photos over on the Light WT Flickr stream, and there are some lovely videos on the Philips You Tube channel too.

All photos and images used here with permission.  Copyright © Paula Rainha.

Have you just finished an exciting trip or project you’d like to get featured on Inspirational Geek?  Or is there somebody you would like to see interviewed?  Then please get in touch or leave a comment below.

Wake Up Light

British Summer Time has officially ended and, whether you agree with it or not (the subject of many a recent debate), our clocks have recently been pushed back an hour.  This gives us ever so slightly more light in the mornings to wake up to, but considerably less in the evening when travelling (cycling) back from the office.

It may have been a struggle for you getting up this morning, or even coming home with it much darker than usual, but spare a thought for the town of Svalbard in Norway, the northern most town in the world.  It’s dark, continuously for 11 weeks at a time as the sun sits 12° below the horizon (known as polar night) – as far as natural light is concerned, there is none.

Not sure whether it’s 11am or 11pm?  Just head to the local shop, if it’s open then it’s am, if not then you can go back to bed because it’s pm.

Being in the lighting industry I’m well aware of the manner in which light, natural or otherwise, can play and influence your body’s rhythms, emotions, and physical well being.  Our body clocks are extremely sensitive and adaptable to light.

Cue Philips to tackle this ever-dark arctic town with an island-wide experiment to all use their Wake-up light to “wash out the sleep hormones” and overcome “sleep inertia” to ease you into your day.

After just two weeks 78% found it easier to get up in the morning, and after four weeks that figure was up to 86%!  A similarly high 87% felt more refreshed and ready for their day, with 86% reporting a positive impact on their mood.

Full details on the site here.