In our field of lighting design, often our art is supporting a scripted story and moving it forward with other collaborators. We’re taking the tools from our theatrical storytelling backgrounds and exploring the way that light as sculptural art can create an emotional response.
We are presenting three photokinetic sculptures that explore Thomas Wilfred’s Lumia in the modern century. Each of the three sculptures engages with current technology and dimensional space as we look to evoke the ethereal colors and childlike wonder of Lumia, which Wilfred described as “radiant form in dark infinite space.”
There is something all together mystifying about the way that Wilfred evoked nature’s elusive northern lights and captured them on a 2D plane, inviting the viewer to consider what is man made, what is organic, and in what ways art exists without human intervention or viewing.
We’re interested in taking the ways that Wilfred engaged with technology in the 1920’s and reimaging how the light art engages with technology from today– how do lasers, 3D printing, and new materials change the way Lumia is created? What does it mean for the organic shapes of Wilfred’s art to be created with updated technology and inorganic materials?
We’re interested in taking the planar work of Wilfred and moving it out onto 3D shapes themselves, asking ourselves what it feels like to have the Lumia wash over you and invite you into its creation.
Production Credits
Lighting Design – Shaurjya Banerjee
Lighting Design – Claire Chrzan
Lighting Design – Violet Smith