LIGHTS IN ROOMS - LIGHT SCENARIOES TO DESCRIBE TRACKS

LIGHTS IN ROOMS LIGHT SCENARIOES TO
DESCRIBE TRACKS IN
TIME
PROJECTDESCRIPTION 01.09.2012
NORWEGIAN ARTISTIC RESEARCH PROGRAMME
OSLO NATIONAL ACADEMY OF THE ARTS, FACULTY OF DESIGN
RESEARCH FELLOW BIRGITTE APPELONG
INTERIOR ARCHITECT
Light can be understood as the absence of darkness, and darkness is
the absence of light. Light is a physical phenomenon that has to be discussed in relation to its opposite the dark. In the space between absolute
brightness and total darkness, we find all the intermediate values and
grey scales that constitute a material for interior designers.
How can one use light to create a story on multiple levels in a room?
I want to create an interaction with the people who enter the room. I
want to influence them with the light I design. In addition to creating an
atmosphere, I wish to invite them into a state of mind. I hope that my
audience will, through the light, get a better understanding of the room’s
architecture and history. I will tell a story, surprise and invite reflection. To
me, the rapid shifts that are possible with light without physical modifications make the light tremendously fascinating as an instrument.
WHAT? The project contributes to scientific development in this profession
Light as experienced quality is a complex phenomenon. The question
“What is light” has occupied mankind for ages. Science - In the tradition
of Isaac Newton from the 17.th century - answers that it is measurable
properties of light and colours, radiation from the sun transported by
waves and particles (quants). However, there is another tradition from
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe based on how humans perceive light an
colours. Goethe writes: The light sends the visible to the eye - the eye
sends it all to man
In this project I will draw upon both traditions.
In space the surface of objects is my subject. Our ability to see, to discover shape, colour and texture, and to distinguish objects from each
other, are all affected by the amount of light we have available and how
this light is processed, what qualities it has, and what qualities we attribute to light as interior designers. I will explore the phenomenal voice of
rooms through light, shadow, color and materials.
How we experience light quality depends on a set of variables: Visual
perception (the eye’s perception), the environment in which the light occurs, space and surroundings, context, the individual emotional conditions and mood
When we talk about light we have to distinguish light radiating from natural sources and manmade sources. Light includes two main factors:
a) physically measurable qualities, and b) perceptual qualities that are
much more difficult to measure.
The technical factors include, among other things, the light sources’
technical properties, spectral distribution, colour temperature, colour
rendering, light flux etc. Additionally, the light coming out of the light
source work in interaction with the luminaries in which the light source
is located, the surrounding space, and the objects it hits. Because of
this, the light quality is affected by the angle of the luminaries, reflector
characteristics and luminance, as well as the rooms’ size and shape.
Different surfaces, materials and space along with colour, texture and reflection properties will all contribute to giving the light different character.
All of these properties are measurable, and relatively easy to document.
Thus, light quality is context dependent, and the experience of quality
can vary from person to person. Technical factors intertwine with contextual and emotional factors. The challenge of the light designer is to create atmospheres, for instance by luminance contrasts and light/shadow
effects that are adequate.
EU’s “EcoDesign Regulations”, demands phasing out various types of
light sources. In consequence, the ministry of the Environment in collaboration with Lyskultur are currently working on the National Action
Plan for Light in Norway, to be finished by 2014. This plan so far intends
to cover the technical aspects of lighting only. Its purpose of the action
plan is to define concrete measures to influence energy consumption,
safety, environment, health, well-being, learning and productivity. To a
very small degree does it deal with the consequences outside of the
positive environmental aspects including energy conservation. It is a
partgoal in this project to suggest the inclusion of sensory aspects and
aesthetic impacts of lightning in this action plan. To achieve this goal, the
undersigned, in cooperation with my resource group (IKU)* has asked
Lyskultur for a revised mandate to emphasize work on light quality in addition to environment and technology.
New international laws and regulations increase the need for knowledge.
The phasing-out of incandescent lamps with a colour temperature that
takes care of our “warm” lighting needs here in the Nordic countries provides interior architects with major new challenges. New light sources
with different colour temperatures than what we now are accustomed to
work with will continuously appear in the market. The characteristics of
these new light sources will influence the sensation of volume, colours
and materials in the room. One potential of the project is that with the
new light sources, “the new tools”, I can find undiscovered utilization
opportunities. As a research fellow I can work both with fiction and reality. I have no limits like in a normal project, that is why I can reach other
levels.
Little is currently known about sensory aspects and aesthetic impacts of
lightning. However, research is ongoing and it is the aim of this project to
contribute to providing new knowledge about this topic.
* EU’s “EcoDesign Regulations” from 2008
* IKU Information and Competence Committee
PROJECT AND RESEARCH QUESTION LIMITATIONS
CONTEXT
The project explores lighting experiences or lighting scenarios indoors. I
want to restrict the project to old interiors that carry a history. In the final
outcome of the project the new knowledge produced through experimentation and exploration will be used as a material or tool to create an
atmosphere. This atmosphere I which to contain the following
Today, it is difficult for the lighting designer to guarantee the result of the
work because LEDs currently are not fully developed. The project does
not aim to contribute to the technical development of the light source,
but to seek applications. As a designer, I will have to seek knowledge of
the technical development to keep myself updated. Despite the technical
parameters, the application will, to some extent, influence the development. When it comes to research on the physical and aesthetic aspects
on the use of light, this is being performed by amongst others:
1. The past
2. The present
3. The future
What will I achieve? The project intends to create rooms where lighting
experiences or lighting scenarios form tracks in time. It is the things that
are not here that I will be studying. In my project, I want to work in an interior of an older house that has a story. In this type of room I wish to see
if it is possible to recreate the experience of the past by means of light
only. Furthermore, I desire to create an experience of the moment and
if possible a future scenario. The studies can be both fiction and reality.
Ingo Maurer works from the design side towards art. Ingo Maurer’s passion to create is as strong as his desire to share an enthusiasm for light,
and quality lighting objects. In 2009 he wrote an article called “What a
nice idea to eliminate an icon like the light bulb!” In 2011 Ingo Maurer
received the Compasso d’Oro for his body of work.
James Turell: Several works in both the art and design, and sometimes
technical. Turell has worked a lot with natural light and illusions.
The quality of the light and the experience is what I want to be judged by.
Olafur Eliasson’s works from the artistic side towards design.
Fransisco Gomez Paz: Professor Politecnico Milano works with LED
and new lighting tecnology and the pre-electrical versus the electrical
Image from the film “Barry Lyndon” by Stanley Kobrick
Image by Ingo Maurer
Daniell Rybakken: Works conceptually, but also designs fixtures.
Bill Viola (light water) Viola continues the renaissance painters’ use of
light, but in film / video. Vioal mixes the past and present! He pulls the old
images into the present by means of tableaux and video.
Rembrandt worked with the present light and shadows in his paintings,
his paintings tells us among other things about the light in the past.
The film “Barry Lyndon” by Stanley Kobrick is illuminated by daylights
and candels.
Blade Runner an American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott
I have personally worked with relevant projects for Moeller Electric,
Skien municipality, REC and the Ministry of the Environment where
light control and scenarios have been necessary to create different
moods in a single room. Another reference project where the contrasts
between light and dark as well as warm and cool light colors were cen tral was the Thommessen congress center in Oslo.
So far in my study, I have not found anyone who tries to bring up the
past by means of light. Those who come closest to this are film artists
such as Viola (tableau), Bergmann (daylight), Agnieska Holland (light in
the sewer), Silent Light (5 min sunrise), Barry Lyndon, Dreier (black and
white), Blade Runner (future)
But no one has - as far as I know - illuminated a space and tried to
find correlation between the past, present and future in the same
room. This is what I want to emphasize. The result is conceivable
metaphorically as an image in which layer upon layer of pigment
is laid on a canvas. My pigment is exclusively light. I will add layer
upon layer of light and create an overall atmosphere in the interior.
Inspiration from artists and film productions that I choose
= min context.
HOW do I achieve this?
How can one use light to create a story on multiple levels in a room?
1. How can the daylight be utilized?
2. How the day anticipates the night?
3. How can the artificial light qualities be used in the twilight hours after
dark?
4. How will daylight and artifical light affect the shadows and shadow
spaces?
5. How will the objects surfaces appear?
6. How light can create atmospheres and identity that gives the feeling
of the past, present and the future.
7. How beautiful the room’s architecture can be preserved despite the
need for artificial lighting. Document through photography and film how
the Column Hall appears when lit with only candles and how to get the
feeling with artificial lighting
WHY
METHOD 1
Analysis of existing solutions in the set design, theater and film
I want to use light as a tool for working with a complex canvassing of
many layers. I am itching to work with the depths of the layers and to create new ones. I want to move inside and outside the canvases and work
on different types of canvas surfaces. The light is my paint.
Film and theater: I want to examine how directors create and recreate
the staging of historical events, documenting the present and create the
future vision
The project’s relevant topics in connection with the challenges in the
wake of the phasing-out of incandescent lamps will provide the scientific
community both nationally and internationally with knowledge about the
use of new light sources. It is necessary to have knowledge about these
new light sources to meet both the qualitative and aesthetic aspects in
our field of work.
HOW (method)
The survey will be conducted in laboratories and in the actual house
1. Analysis of existing solutions in the set design, theater and film
2. Daylight registration - In nature, exploring the nordic light, exploring
the blue hour and 24 h inside the room
3. The room laboratory at school testing in model 1:10 and 1:1,
The light laboratory at Ingo Maurer and Academy of Arts and Technology
4. Actual old room
Explore Ingo Maurer old building projects in Germany
Crownprins Fredrik og Crownprinsesse Mary of Denmark residense
Column Hall of Jarlsberg
5. Light experiences with my fellows and students
Images are from relevant movies: The Red Shoe / The Prince and The show girl / Blade Runner
METHOD 2 “EXPLORING THE NORDIC LIGHT”
Seasonal changes are, to most people, a positive thing and closely
related to living in the North. Our long, light summer nights are a strong
contrast to our winters, but we love both the summer night and a crisp
winter night, when the stars and the moon are reflected in the snow.
How can we compensate with artificial light inside when dusk comes,
or is it the changes through these hours that we want?
Images Appelong
“This is simple. Three hours in a church in the middle of the day, and
the light doesn’t change much.” Ingmar Bergman’s cinematographer
Sven Nyquist
Ingmar was agitated: “You don’t know much, do you?? That’s exactly
what it does, and that is precisely what I am after. The gradual, almost
unnoticeable change, with almost no shadows“
Neither one or the other need to be right or wrong, but I will seek an
awareness of this through my photo documentation of daylight observations at Jarlsberg and photographic studies of nature. Light is a necessity for colors to appear. I want to study the colors in the shadows, look
at the refraction of the light, look at the reflections all around me in nature
and then apply this knowledge in what I create.
Images Appelong
The colors are everywhere, around the light and in the light, and we must
constantly deal with them. To investigate this I have to arrange for the
color in the light (RA-indeks) and brightness to be adjustable and different scenarios to be programmed along the way.
METHOD 2 “EXPLORING THE BLUE HOUR”
METHOD 3 LIGHT TESTING IN 1:10 AND 1:1
“The Nordic region in genral we have two distinct and beautiful elements in natural light: The long lasting sunset and the blue hour. These
moments are part of the lighting scenes during which outdoor lighting
becomes part of interior lighting and vice versa. Thanks to new technology it is possible to explore thes natural scenes of light and adjust the
visual picture all the time.”
Roope Siiroinen
Images Birgitte Appelong
Light testing will be performed in the 1:10 gips model of Jarlsberg
(phase1). Through model studies in 1:10 I will try to develop a methodology for studying light for interior designers. As Jarlsberggaard is protected, most of the trials will take place in the room laboratory at KHIO,
NTNU and at Ingo Maurer “studioshowroomwerkstattatelier” in Munchen
An important element that has emerged in phase 1 is that the light quality of new types of lighting including LEDs deteriorate over time.
Images by Bernhard Dessecer (Studio Ingo Maurer) and Birgitte Appelong
METHOD 4 ACTUAL OLD ROOMS AND SCENES
METHOD 5 LIGHT EXPERIENCES
A draft method will be to work in room laboratory with a combination of
model testing, 3D sketches and photos to illustrate the desiresd light.
The selected room for this case is the Column Hall at Jarlsberg. Jarlsberg is the case, not the limitation. Model studies can be both fiction and
reality.
In addition to the professional scenographic and interior design aspects, the
choice of the Column Hall as a canvas with multiple layers inspires me to work
with music, movement and dance together with my fellows and students. How
does the music, dance and movement influence the light in the room? I am curious on testing temporary scenographic light. Maybe some of the senarios will
end up as a permanent setting.
Images Bennetton by Tadao Ando
Column Hall at Jarlsberg by Birgitte Appelong
This is intended as a temporary, interdisciplinary performance. This allows for
a different kind of exploration that has been made possible through the grant
program.
lllustration image by Tuva Hellum, Therese Fjellberg and Birgitte Appelong
THE ARTISTIC RESULT “LYSVERKET”
THE CRITICAL REFLECTION
The final outcome to be evaluated will as I see it now become et “lysverk” that consist of 3-9 permanent light scenarios in the Column Hall
of Jarlsberg. The fiction studies will be documentet by photos and/or film
In my CR i will have a digital form that is image- and model-based. The
result as I see it now will include a process video as well as my own
interpretations and observations on the solutions I create. This will be
realized in the form of a website and a digital and/or physical photo exhibition. My goal is that the combination of methods together shall form the
basis for my critical reflection. The critical reflection is likely to include;
Jarlsberg is an estate and an original building just outside the city of
Tønsberg in Vestfold county. It was originally created in 1673 for Peder S
Griffenfeld and named Griffenfeldt County. According to the noble act of
1821 Jarlsberg ceased to be a county when the last Danish-Norwegian
Count Peder Anker Wedel Jarlsberg died in 1893. Jarlsberg is the only
Norwegian county where the descendants of the original aristocratic
owners still own and operate the property. The current owner, Nicolaus
Wedel Jarlsberg is the thirteenth generation.
The castle is mainly untouched since 1812. On the ground floor of the
main building is the column hall. The Column Hall at Jarlsberg Manor is
presently only illuminated by daylight and hundreds of candels.
Initially, I said that I want my audience to get a better understanding of
the room’s architecture and history. Using light, light illusions and projections one should - in a short time - experience a journey through 200
years, experience the present and get a glimpse into the future. Hopefully, the result will be transferrable to various interiors that, in different
ways, are conveyors of history.
1. Location of personal artistic work in relation to its fields nationally and
internationally
2.How the project contributes to knowledge production and development
within the feeld of of lighting design.
3. The Critical reflection will give account of the process of the project,
my design choices and turning points due to new insights theory, dialogue with the various networks and the professional environment, in
wich I have worked.
4. Critical reflection on the outcome (self-assessment in relation to the
revised project)
LITERATURE + ARTICLES + MOVIES
FINANCING PLAN
The two most costly investments will be incurred in the initial and final phase
of the project. Along the way there will be opportunity for external sponsors.
The dialogue is started with Philips, Flos, LucePlan and Lyskultur. Philips and
Flos has already sponsored several products for the surveys and will take up
with additional funds in the coming years. If desired, be presented a far more
detailed financing plan, but this is the main sessions.
2011 og 2012
Electrician
Lighting and light sources to the tests
Materials for model building 1:10
Travel expenses reasearch Photo equipment 15,000
20,000
+ sponsorship from Flos + Philips
75,000
15,000
15,000
2013
Materials for model building, etc. 15,000
Travel expenses seminars / courses 10,000
Lighting lamps and luminaires 50,000
+ sponsorship from Flos + Philips
Electrician 20,000
+ sponsorship from W Jarlsberg
Unexpected10,000
2014
Photo Print of performance 50,000
+ sponsorship from FotoPhono
Dance performance spring 2014
20,000
+ sponsorship from W Jarlsberg
Exhibition materials 20,000 + sponsorship
Unexpected 10,000
LITERATURE:
Ander, Gregg D “Daylight performance and design”
Flavin, Dan “The Architecture of Light”
Murray, David “Architecture and shadow”
Norberg-Schultz, Christian, Genus Loci, “Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture”
Turell James “The Other Horizon”
Liebskinds Daniel “Det jødiske museet i Berlin”
Ando Tadao “Light and wather”
Terzani, Segio “Everything is light”
Zumthor Peter “Therme Vals”
Andrey Tarkovsky Thames & Hudson Polaroids Instant Light ISBN 978-0-500-28614-2
Henrik Karlsson & Michael Biggs Routledge companion to research in the arts – The
production of knowledge in artistic research.
Junichiro Tanizaki “In Praise of Shadows”
Nordic Light - Interpretations in architecture by Natallia Sørensen and Petter N Haug
ARTICLES
Aslaug Nyrnes Lighting from the side
Henk Borgdorff The Debate on Research in the Arts
Henk Borgdorff Artistic Research within the Fields of Science
Henk Borgdorff The Production of Knowledge in Artistic Research
Søren Kjørup Another Way of Knowing
Klaus Jung Enabling Knowledge
Efva Lilja Trow the Stones Really Hard at Your Target or Rest in Peace
Efva Lilja What is “good” in art?
Niels Overgaard Lehmann and Aslaug Nyrnes Publication: “Ut frå det konkrete”
MOVIES
Barry Lyndon by Stanley Kobrick
Blade Runner a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott
The Red Shoes a British feature film by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
A Matter of Life and Death by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
The Age of Innocence by Martin Scorsese
Jordbærstedet/Persona/Til Glede/Sommerlek/ +++ by Ingmar Bergman
Sense and Sensability by Ang Lee
The Tourist by Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck
I Vitelloni by Federico Fellini
Black Narcissus by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
Andrey Tarkovsky Tempo di Viaggio /Nostalgia/The Mirror 74/Solaris
Trygve Allister Dinesen Swimming with sharks + Torpedo + Red
Lars Van Trier / Per Fly