In this issue:

 

LETTERS TO THE EXPERTS

Starting with this issue of LUCE, we are launching the new column Letters to the Experts: it is a space dedicated to readers, where they can share ideas and comments and ask questions about light and its various and wide-ranging fields of application. In this section, we will publish some questions posed by you, readers, and the corresponding answers by experts from the different realities of the lighting world (designers, professors, researchers, managers, entrepreneurs, etc.). In this way we would like to give space to our readers, and establish a direct relationship with them, thus ensuring an ever greater and
more fruitful interaction so that we can provide a concrete answer to all your professional needs and clarify any uncertainties.
 
The letters should be sent to [email protected]

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INTERVIEWS

The light, the beauty and the nature by Michael Anastassiades

by Monica Moro

LUCE magazine caught up with Michael Anastassiades, the London designer of Cypriot origin whose works are exhibited in the permanent collections of the leading museums around the world, who talks about his idea of light and the poetics behind his works, which can be found in his new lamp collection My Circuit. “I was always drawn to lighting. What attracted me to light is its uniqueness… What happens in the moment, when you actually turn the light on, is that magic happens. Poetry happens! Because the volume of the space that it occupies through the light, the shadows and the reflections, everything changes. It stops being a static sculptural object. As a designer, you are consciously designing for these two different settings… I am always fascinated about how perfection can exist naturally. In nature you have these beautifully shaped stones – or drawn like manmade objects – in ways you cannot believe are accidental…” 

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INTERVIEWS

Andrea Anastasio,
an artist, designer and philosopher who works with light

by Pierluigi Masini

Andrea Anastasio, a designer and artist, is a passionate scholar of Oriental philosophies who always places man and his spiritual dimension at the centre of his projects. He can amaze you by talking about unforeseen encounters and uncommon experiences that he recounts with a rare wisdom; the same one that now takes us there with him, to share his excitement in front of an unexpected light.
“…I am always surprised to find that reflection about light is closely associated with the one about heat. Light typically has to do with fire and, especially in Indo-European cultures, it is something that introduces not just the vital element related to heat, but also the destructive element – the purifying element of fire. All important rituals of Vedic worship pass through fire…   From the very beginning of my work path, this light-heat pairing made me reflect on how crucial the switch from a flame-related lighting to an electric one was… When we turn on the light, with a switch or a remote control – although in a completely unconscious way – we are still connected to a gesture that has made this ritual a central moment of the day for millennia…”

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INTERVIEWS

Iranian women,
an example of courage and hope

by Mariella Di Rao

LUCE met Iranian-born lighting designer Salvia Omidvarnia. She tells us her story, which is the story of so many women in Iran who challenge the veiling
laws that forces women, girls and even little girls, to cover their hair and which has become a metaphor for rebellion and redemption. She explains how culture, education and awareness of one’s rights are by far the most effective tools in the fight for freedom. “…Women in Iran are so brave. This courage, today as then, is mainly due to the cultural background because, in my country, there has always been a high level of education. Today literacy is almost 100% among people under the age of 25 and there are 4 million university students, most of whom are women. In a country like Iran, culture is crucial in trying to emancipate yourself from this condition of subjugation…”

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LIGHT ON THE YOUNG PEOPLE

“Spaziale. Everyone belongs to everyone else” is the innovative and inclusive project for the Italian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale won by a collective of young people

by Giulia Ottavia Silla

LUCE met with Fosbury Architecture, who curated the Italian Pavilion, of the 18^th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale. Inaugurated on 20 May, it is open to the public until 26 November. For visitors, the title, “Spatial. Everyone belongs to everyone else,” is somewhat the core of this innovative and inclusive project, promoted by the General Directorate for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture with commissioner Onofrio Cutaia and won by the Fosbury Architecture collective comprising Giacomo Ardesio, Alessandro Bonizzoni, Nicola Campri, Veronica Caprino and Claudia Mainardi. The average age of the curators and the various designers involved is 33.3 years. These young people give us their innovative and pathbreaking view on the cultural paradigms and on what the development of the discipline of architecture can be.

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SUSTAINABILITY

Eco-centric lighting.
Light that respects biodiversity 

by Miriam Emiliano

The author talks about the latest research and studies on how to design an artificial lighting at night that is less anthropocentric and more specific to the environment: it is an issue that represents a major challenge for the future. The interplay between human well-being, light pollution reduction and energy saving is an extremely complex business and these needs take on different importance depending on the context. In a man-made environment, the goals of lighting are safety, urban comfort and landscaping. Whereas in the natural environment, which usually includes suburban areas of special ecological interest, the human being is a guest and the protection of the local flora and fauna and the control of consumption become priorities.

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DESIGNING LIGHT

San Pellegrino Flagship Factory. When light dialogues with architecture and the environment

by Giulia Chinello

In the project by Studio BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group), winner of the international competition launched by the San Pellegrino Group for the redevelopment of the factory, the lighting design, commissioned to Studio Piero Castiglioni, was developed together with the architectural design, creating a design connection that led to the use of light as a building block. The project’s objective was to understand the language, in other words which elements create a link between the built (hence the human cultural work) and the natural territory (thus the river and the surrounding nature).
In this project, light is considered as a design and scenic element of the architecture, which fulfills various visual tasks, such as making the different areas of the complex and the various functions that take place in them recognisable, indicating access points, marking routes, and allowing people to rest, work and socialise while respecting nature and letting the brand image be discreetly integrated into the night landscape.

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LIGHTING DESIGNERS

Giusy Gallina’s immaterial material light

by Marco Nozza

LUCE met with Giusy Gallina, an architect, lighting designer, and sailor, who tells us how she ranges from product design to the integration of natural light in the architectural process. “… When talking about daylight in the built environment, it is like discussing an all-important elixir of life for human beings, because it is a continuously available, renewable and free resource that offers interesting elements of inspiration. Natural light triggers our biological rhythms and thus contributes to our well-being, determining the timing of our daily lives. It can play a crucial role in sustainable building design strategies by limiting the reliance on artificial lighting.” Evocative similarities between the lighting designer’s profession and sailing also come up in the course of the interview… “Every small adjustment affects the speed of the boat, kind of like when you design light…”

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SPECIAL 

Euroluce 2023 / The City of Lights

by Paolo Calafiore, Floriana Cannatelli, Mariella Di Rao, Cristina Ferrari, Monica Moro, Sielo Longo, Alessandra Reggiani

The much-anticipated event was a success, especially in terms of attendance. Milan counted more than 350,000 operators and tourists from all over the world. These are pre-pandemic numbers, confirming the high level of appreciation for the new format of the event, thereby reaffirming the catalysing force of the show as an international stage for creativity displaying the scenarios and trends of a world in the area of design and lighting that is profoundly changing. Objects, installations and visions are meant to tell, provoke and make us reflect. Perhaps, it is just the powerful narrative capacity that emerges from the chronicle of this design week, where the star of the Salone 2023 edition is light, but not understood as an object, or a lamp, but in the broader meaning of a lighting experience that is recounted in these pages of the Special through various articles and contributions from both the Milan Furniture Fair, the FuoriSalone and the Design Week.

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RESEARCH AND TECNOLOGY

The new frontiers of lighting.
Interview with Shuji Nakamura

by Elisa Belloni

It was 2014 when Shuji Nakamura received the Nobel Prize together with Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano for the invention of the blue LED and the great benefits it brought. Since then, research has gone on with new discoveries and applications. Nakamura holds more than 400 patents, has published more than 900 papers and is still working on the development of new lighting applications at the University of Santa Barbara (California, USA). He is currently engaged in the development of innovative laser light sources with the goal of creating white light sources composed of GaN-based laser diodes. The author met with Prof. Nakamura to discuss new lighting technologies and the most interesting aspects of his research activities with a special focus on future trends in the global energy transition scenario. 

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RESEARCH AND TECNOLOGY

Jan Vermeer.
Painted light, between realism and mystery

by Alberto Pasetti Bombardella

The exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam that brought together 27 of the great artist’s 36 extant works was an opportunity to understand the master’s symbolic and enigmatic narrative framework and the fundamental role of light in the scenic construction of his works. In Vermeer’s paintings every detail is thought out, but most importantly, every material detail is invested by the beam of light in an almost obsessive matching. The shadows, reflections, and the shimmering of water or polished metals enhance every tiny particle of Vermeer’s painting as if responding to the universal law of matter that comes alive and intertwines, making the presence of the human figure more vigorous. This same presence, often female, at once fascinating, seductive and mysterious, owes its expressive force to the very light that the artist shapes on it with rare mastery. This happens to such an extent that he transforms the physical optical coherence of the shadows and bends it to his own advantage to strengthen the symbolic and evocative power of his perfect vision.

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RESEARCH AND TECNOLOGY

Lighting the future:
Generative AI lights the way for innovation

by Filippo Lubrano

Generative artificial intelligence is changing the way we live and is also revolutionising the way we design and manage lighting. With the advent of innovative technologies and artificial intelligence (AI), the lighting sector has evolved rapidly, offering increasingly efficient and sustainable solutions. In particular, generative artificial intelligence is revolutionising the way we design and manage lighting, both in the home and in smart cities.
In this article, the author, who is an expert in innovation and internationalisation, explores the new frontiers, applications and opportunities of AI in this specific field.

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LIGHT ART

The Horizon beyond the depth of the sea in the waves of light by Maria Cristiana Fioretti

by Jacqueline Ceresoli

Colour, light, shape and feelings draw sea and sky in Maria Cristiana Fioretti’s H2ORIZON exhibition at the Galerie d’Art Contemporain in Menton, France, until 16 September 2023. It is a project inspired by the depths of the sea, in which the electric waves and the intensity of light in its endless chromatic variations are reflected in works that open up reflections on the need to preserve water from environmental pollution: water as a primary source of life, just as light, in order to rewrite new narratives, expectations and intentions with paint. 

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In LUCE 344 | 2023 you will find many other articles, special reports, interviews, and insights. We are always on the lookout for new suggestions and ideas to understand, explain and raise awareness of the world of Italian and international lighting. Keep reading and writing to us.

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