Principal Investigator
Chris Salter, Design and Computation Arts, Concordia University
Co-Investigators
Marcelo M. Wanderley, Schulich School of Music, McGill University
David Howes, Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University
Nancy Bussières, Graduate School of Theatre, Université du Québec à Montréal
Takashi Ikegami, Department of General Systems Sciences, University of Tokyo
Jean-Sebastien Senécal, New Media, University of Maine
Samuel Bianchini, École National Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (EnsAD), Paris
Project Description
Dynamic Light is a research-creation program that asks how we can think about lighting design (the deliberate use of light to achieve a practical or aesthetic effect), like we think about music: as a composition of dynamic patterns, rhythms, phrases and gestures that take place over time. The premise of the research stems from a famous statement by the Greek-French composer Iannis Xenakis that, due to new technologies, “we understand that a new art of light is at our doorsteps, one that is not painting, nor frescos, nor theater, nor ballet, nor opera,” because ”light occupies time, for its effect depends on rhythm and duration while music shapes space” (Xenakis 2008). We draw inspiration from musical and dance gestures that express powerful emotions and moods through qualities of dynamics: rhythm, harmony, movement, speed and intensity. We will compose such living dynamics by experimenting with machine-generated techniques, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and artificial life (A-Life) to control rhythms, patterns, and actions in groups of lights, in order to create strong emotional experiences of “vitality,” the manifestation of being alive, between human viewers and the medium of light. In this project, light does not recede in the background, but becomes the performer itself.
At the same time, our research is guided by the fact that, while new technological advances in hardware (LEDs, sensors) and software (AI and machine learning) introduce new possibilities of working with time in lighting design, the discipline’s existing methods, technologies and practices, have historically and conceptually focused on the spatial, rather than temporal dimensions of light – thus sidelining new aesthetic cultural possibilities.
DL is thus guided by three core research questions:
1. What new concepts, techniques and technologies can be introduced into the practice of lighting design in order to expand the discipline’s aesthetic-conceptual-technical possibilities within a temporal context?
2. How can we draw on work in computer-generated sound, machine learning/AI and work in cognitive science/psychology to develop new forms and strategies for temporal composition with light?
3. How can ethnographic methods such as collective interviews and sensory-driven participant observation based from the anthropology of the senses be used to empirically document and evaluate the cultural/perceptual experiences of these dynamics with viewers/audiences?
The project brings together three primary areas of focus:
1. Developing a working vocabulary of dynamics drawing on psychology (Daniel Stern’s work on time profiles and “vitality affects”), cognitive science (Peter Cariani’s work on temporal codes), computer science (machine learning/AI) and computer sound (sound synthesis) for scripting and generating/composing compelling actions/behaviors with groups of lights.
2. Deploying this language in software to build tools for the creation of artistic works that use light to influence the perceiver’s perceptual experience of time and hence, provoke dramatic shifts in moods and feelings.
3. Harnessing qualitative methods derived from participant sensation and the anthropology of the senses to empirically evaluate the results of viewers’ experience in the laboratory and in real world exhibition contexts.
Artistically, the methods/techniques developed will seed the research-development of three Research-Creation works:
1. (Salter, Wanderley, Ikegami, Senécal) A large-scale installation for the Barbican Centre in London, which involves a networked series of lighting objects distributed across the public spaces and uses dynamic rhythms and patterns to create a different sense of lived time for over 1 million passers-by during its exhibition.
2. (Saunier, Dalphond, Bussières) A series of small, performer scale “light instruments” which can be expressively controlled/shaped in real time by performer gestures and environmental data.
3. (Bianchini) The production of “behavioral” light objects that explore the forms of intentionality and relationality that can be expressed using light and across multiple devices.
The program of research thus brings together artistic production, research methodologies from the social sciences for evaluation and cutting edge work in computer science and music technology for the conception and composition of a new temporal actions in light.
Projected outcomes include:
1. The development of research-creation projects, in high profile exhibition contexts including the Barbican Centre in London (the largest cultural centre in Europe) and ENSAD/Paris.
2. Workshops developed and driven by PhD researchers on light, dynamics, media and behavior organized between Concordia, McGill, UQAM, U Maine and ENSAD researchers/students.
3. Jointly authored publications in both technical and humanities/arts contexts (NIME, ICMC, UISST), including a special edited issue of TD&T (Theater Design and Technology) on the new lighting knowledge generated from the research.
4. Development of software libraries that can potentially be utilized by artists and designers outside of the project in the performing arts, live entertainment, interactive media and/or gaming contexts.
“Dynamic Light” is generously supported by a grant from the Fonds de Recherche du Quebec –Société et Culture (FRQSC).
