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Thursday, February 13, 2020
Five figures in theatre every architectural lighting designer should know
warmwhite: While the theatrical lighting and architectural lighting worlds may abide by their own laws and design conventions, there are nevertheless a number of often overlooked similarities between the two which offer huge opportunities for cross pollination and inspiration.
5 comments:
Alexa Janoschka
said...
I thought it was really funny to read about how the first installation mentioned in the article was shut down due to expensive electricity bills (you forget that it cost a lot of money to have the lights on) I forget sometimes about the maintain cost of shows (its a very critique component of the project and its planning) I think one of my favorite designers included in this article is Robert Wilson. The pictures they have included are stunning! I will be saving this article, it has some amazing designers and I would really love to see some more of there work. Lighting design for theater has a lot of the same elements and ideas that architectural lighting has. I think it is going to be important to have an understanding of both declines od lighting to become a designer in the future. I personally would love to light a multitude of different things (theater, concerts, you know the deal) and so I would love to read more articles about the crossing of the different fields of lighting.
I’m currently in the lighting mini right now and I’m shocked that I had an idea of what the author was talking about when they briefly mentioned lighting fixtures and equipment...wow. The article talked about the importance of stage designers to have some knowledge of lighting to achieve their desired illumination effect. I really agree with that because scenic design, lighting design, and media design are all interwoven because they have a direct visual impact on the set. As someone who doesn’t know lighting design at all, my only reaction to the designers included in this article is amazement. I have no idea how they achieved these effects. I continue to think about the blurred lines between scenic design and lighting design because both look so well blended together in the final set. In fact, it should be well blended for cohesiveness. This just stresses how important collaboration between designers is.
This is a really interesting article, to me. I feel like people often forget about architectural lighting design, but it is such a key element to show off the architectural features of any given space. Like this article illustrates, there are so many common aspects of architectural lighting and theatrical stage lighting. I really love how the author makes the distinction between these five designers, showing what each of them was known for. There are elements of simplicity, designing with darkness, and other complex designs that I think are all really important design techniques. Designing with the darkness really stood out to me. You don’t really think about the negative space when lighting, but I feel like that could be just as important as the space that is lit if you are consciously choosing what is dark and how that also looks. I was really interested to see each of these designers styles and the relation from architectural lighting to theatrical lighting.
Lighting design is such an ephemeral and fascinating craft within theatrical design. I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I’ve never heard of any of these figures, but I definitely recognize a lot of their work. Light can absolutely transform a space and it’s fascinating to me how this intangible aspect can have so much influence on how an audience experiences a space and a story. Appia’s designs in particular are fascinating to me- the article says that he was one of the first to pioneer and develop the idea that scenery should not depict an actual place, but instead be a space for the actors to tell a story. The idea of the backlit, glowing white cube cocoons the actors in brightness, but it makes sure that the actors are the ones giving the narrative. Letting the actors and the audience create what they want out of a space and an environment is an entirely new way to look at design for the stage.
I was a little bit proud of myself for seeing familiar names and photos. I suppose some of the articles I've read for news comments are sticking. Es Devlin, in particular, I remembered not from news comments but from a Netflix documentary special they had on her a few years ago. I remember being awed by the way they presented her aesthetic not only through words and pictures about and of her work but through their own graphics and stylistic way of conveying her personality through the documentary. They also introduced her as a scenic designer rather than a lighting designer which made me surprised to see her mentioned in this article. Although before reading this I didn't know that architectural lighting was considered a field so after being informed about that it made a bit more sense that she tread the line between creating architecture with light and lighting architecture. (Or at least that's what I think it all meant.)
5 comments:
I thought it was really funny to read about how the first installation mentioned in the article was shut down due to expensive electricity bills (you forget that it cost a lot of money to have the lights on) I forget sometimes about the maintain cost of shows (its a very critique component of the project and its planning) I think one of my favorite designers included in this article is Robert Wilson. The pictures they have included are stunning! I will be saving this article, it has some amazing designers and I would really love to see some more of there work. Lighting design for theater has a lot of the same elements and ideas that architectural lighting has. I think it is going to be important to have an understanding of both declines od lighting to become a designer in the future. I personally would love to light a multitude of different things (theater, concerts, you know the deal) and so I would love to read more articles about the crossing of the different fields of lighting.
I’m currently in the lighting mini right now and I’m shocked that I had an idea of what the author was talking about when they briefly mentioned lighting fixtures and equipment...wow. The article talked about the importance of stage designers to have some knowledge of lighting to achieve their desired illumination effect. I really agree with that because scenic design, lighting design, and media design are all interwoven because they have a direct visual impact on the set. As someone who doesn’t know lighting design at all, my only reaction to the designers included in this article is amazement. I have no idea how they achieved these effects. I continue to think about the blurred lines between scenic design and lighting design because both look so well blended together in the final set. In fact, it should be well blended for cohesiveness. This just stresses how important collaboration between designers is.
This is a really interesting article, to me. I feel like people often forget about architectural lighting design, but it is such a key element to show off the architectural features of any given space. Like this article illustrates, there are so many common aspects of architectural lighting and theatrical stage lighting. I really love how the author makes the distinction between these five designers, showing what each of them was known for. There are elements of simplicity, designing with darkness, and other complex designs that I think are all really important design techniques. Designing with the darkness really stood out to me. You don’t really think about the negative space when lighting, but I feel like that could be just as important as the space that is lit if you are consciously choosing what is dark and how that also looks. I was really interested to see each of these designers styles and the relation from architectural lighting to theatrical lighting.
Lighting design is such an ephemeral and fascinating craft within theatrical design. I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I’ve never heard of any of these figures, but I definitely recognize a lot of their work. Light can absolutely transform a space and it’s fascinating to me how this intangible aspect can have so much influence on how an audience experiences a space and a story. Appia’s designs in particular are fascinating to me- the article says that he was one of the first to pioneer and develop the idea that scenery should not depict an actual place, but instead be a space for the actors to tell a story. The idea of the backlit, glowing white cube cocoons the actors in brightness, but it makes sure that the actors are the ones giving the narrative. Letting the actors and the audience create what they want out of a space and an environment is an entirely new way to look at design for the stage.
I was a little bit proud of myself for seeing familiar names and photos. I suppose some of the articles I've read for news comments are sticking. Es Devlin, in particular, I remembered not from news comments but from a Netflix documentary special they had on her a few years ago. I remember being awed by the way they presented her aesthetic not only through words and pictures about and of her work but through their own graphics and stylistic way of conveying her personality through the documentary. They also introduced her as a scenic designer rather than a lighting designer which made me surprised to see her mentioned in this article. Although before reading this I didn't know that architectural lighting was considered a field so after being informed about that it made a bit more sense that she tread the line between creating architecture with light and lighting architecture. (Or at least that's what I think it all meant.)
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