In this issue:

Our understanding of light extends to art, architecture, design, film, theatre, science and much more. It is a continuous research that helps us to redefine ourselves and the space around us by shaping our emotional and visceral experience of the world around us. This approach, this method, characterises the work of LUCE, which in this issue presents the vision and contribution of some great explorers of this wonderful element, who investigate and interpret it in different ways based on their own professional and personal paths. Each of the personages interviewed and the authors of the projects described indicate new paths for thinking about light as an element that can help us “illuminate” our personal reflection on our place in the universe  An “enlightened” vision of light as play, creativity and attention to new technologies is powerfully expressed in the beautiful cover that the multifaceted designer, artist and architect Fabio Novembre created for this issue of LUCE and whom I wish to thank for this stunning gift. This time, the special feature is dedicated to the relationship between light and nature. Sustainability and the environment are themes that are very dear to the magazine, which, from this issue, comes out with FSC certified paper that attests to its sustainable production process. This is a “good practice” to show how our behaviour is the most effective tool to convey messages and models…

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LUCE met Fabio Novembre, a versatile “all-round” designer, in his “studio of wonders”. Cultured and curious, he declares “you can’t just surround yourself with your own things“, so his studio is a gallery of art and objets trouvés. He is currently working on important projects such as the paediatric ward of the new Policlinico di Milano and the Padel Pavilion in CityLife.

In the interview, he talks about his vision on light, colour and new technologies, starting with his very special relationship with cinema and photography “…I have always been interested in the meaning of the word ‘photography’, which comes from the Greek and means painting with light. The great artists have worked with shadow, penumbra and light recreating it on canvas, but those who have managed to ‘tame’ light are the great photographers. You play with a light source in a similar way, shielding it as you would a lampshade in a shadow play. It has always been an oscillation between showing and not showing…”

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Light as the material of architecture, light as pure energy and as a dimension of the spirit and beauty: these are the main themes of the interview with Mario Cucinella. He is one of the most famous architects with projects related to sustainability all over the world – most recently, the Italian Pavilion for Expo 2025 in Osaka. LUCE met him in his studio in Bologna, an open space that was once a workshop with three-metre plants that push up towards the ceiling in search of light. He talks to us about the fundamental relationship that architecture must have with both natural and artificial light, because it directly affects people’s emotional and psychological aspect… “The surprising thing is that we do not know light fully. In the changing of the seasons you really see how a window or a ceiling works, and when you change a material you immediately see that the diagram of light changes… Light is a material and you have to capture it, you have to interact with a photon that changes intensity: there is a technical-scientific aspect on the one hand and a reflection of a more human nature on the other. That’s the most beautiful thing about this whole thing…”

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LUCE caught up with Davide Livermore, opera singer, set designer, scriptwriter and stage and opera director, who talks about his poetics, his love for art and the historical contamination between ancient and contemporary as an element of his creative freedom. In the long interview he granted us, he talks about light, which for him is narration in its purest state… “Lighting acts on two levels: one that serves to define the time of the action, just like the movement of a camera, and the time of the soul that tells the inner dialogue and communicates the emotional climate of what we are seeing and its evolution. And these two times, marked by light like a metronome, must be recognisable to the spectator. The lights must be together with the dramaturgy. A line, or music for me, must resonate together with the lights…”

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The school complex in Ursy, Switzerland, designed by the architectural firm Ruffieux-Chehab Architectes SA, involved Studio Piero Castiglioni for the lighting design part. LUCE delves into the subject with some questions to the architect Castiglioni and his collaborator, architect Giulia Chinello. The architectural project is inspired by the morphology of the typical villages of the area and the canton of Fribourg, which often cluster buildings of various sizes around an open courtyard. It includes two new volumes that, fitting into the site with great precision, separate but perfectly integrated with the existing one (the sports hall), define an open-air square where the landscape also plays a leading role.  The lighting design is based on the theme of the quality of environments, carefully adapting to the different activities over the course of a school day: the hours of study, refreshment, work, play, acting, sport, music, growth, education…

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A few days after the 22nd anniversary of the dramatic attack on the Twin Towers on 11 September 2001, an event that has deeply wounded the city of New York and the entire world, the last public building on the huge lot of the area involved in the tragic event has been completed and inaugurated, the final piece of completion of the recovery and restoration Master Plan developed in 2003 during the term of office of then Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) stands as the cultural keystone of the new World Trade Center and was conceived with the intention of creating connections between artists and audiences – from the heart of New York City to all over the world – through music, theatre, dance, opera, film, media and other special events, to highlight, show and celebrate the power of art to entertain, inspire and unite. The genesis of the project and its gestation were complex and multifaceted. Following an international competition, the design conceived by the New York-based REX Studio – founded by Joshua Ramus – in collaboration with architect Davis Brody Bond, with the consultancy of Charcoalblue for the stage aspects, Threshold Acoustics for acoustics, Tillotson Design Associates for the lighting, and various other partners for further segments, was finally implemented…

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Franz Lustig tells how he directed the photography of Wim Wenders’ latest film, which won the Best Actor Award (Kōji Yakusho) at the last Cannes Film Festival.

“… As a cinematographer, when I create a space with light and framing, this space needs the actor to be filled – it’s nothing without the actor. They need space and time to perform, and I look for the best way to help them. When I succeeded, I felt that also Kōji could see what I saw through the lens. He knew what I was framing but never looked at the monitor. This happened with many people I shot with throughout my career…”

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In an eco-centric and no longer human-centric vision, the artificial light also contributes to the narrative of the human relationship with the natural elements, the plant and animal world, because it plays a fundamental role in controlling the timing of biological activity. Yet, today, in every part of the planet, direct emissions of misdirected artificial night light significantly influence the biological cycles of all living beings with impacts ranging from interference with hormone levels to modifications of production cycles, from changes in daily activities to the vulnerability of many species to predators. We address these topics within the Light and Nature special, with an in-depth article on the current state of research and an interview with the ornithologist Lorenzo Fornasari. within the Special, nature is also narrated through art projects and installations, because “art is a powerful medium for talking to man about ecology and the environment” in the words of the artist Rodolfo Lacquaniti.

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Light has always been at the service of art, both for the creation of works and for the processes of investigation, conservation and restoration. LUCE met with Simone Ferrari, a restoration technician who deals with the study and conservation analysis of cultural heritage, especially paintings, with a focus on the chronology of previous interventions, materials and execution techniques, who tells us about the various uses of light in his work … “Light is used for both working and technical purposes, that is, so as to understand materials and colours, identify where to intervene, and, needless to say, illuminate the object to be worked on. In regard to materials, light helps to reveal their chemical and technical nature as it can highlight them or even change how they are perceived visually, and the same applies to volumes and thicknesses…”

 

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LUCE meets Massimo Iarussi, founder of the Studio Iarussi in Florence, in a conversation between lighting designers about how a lighting project is created by his Studio. For Iarussi, who has illuminated works of art, churches and prestigious museums, ” …the best lighting is that which remains in the shadows… The lighting design must act with a light hand, on tiptoe, with discretion. Your design cannot, and must not, become the central character, otherwise there is the risk of distorting the meaning of the work to be illuminated. The light must be perceived as unobtrusive; it must remain virtually invisible. It must make objects, spaces, volumes and surfaces visible, but not be perceived directly. It must create visual priorities and guides, but it must function almost “in the dark.” In short, it must remain in the shadow.”

 

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Among the great contemporary artists LUCE presents Manuela Bedeschi, a multifaceted sculptor and painter who also creates works of art with neon, and who was influenced by the Light Art.  Having overcome the barriers between painting and sculpture, allowing new points of view to flow freely, Bedeschi discovers Dan Flavin and Bruce Nauman. In 1966 she began to use neon, exploiting its characteristics in various ways, including the creation of lettering.

Her works take the form of luminous words that cross the boundary between luminous sign, communication and revelation of metaphysical reflections on time, materialising a language that is both individual and collective…

 

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In LUCE 347 you will find many other articles, interviews and in-depth features.
 
We are always on the lookout for new suggestions and ideas for understanding, explaining and publicising the world of Italian and international lighting.
 
Keep reading and writing to us.

 

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