August 19th 2021

10h41 Introductionary questions:

-       If you could eliminate something in your current practice what would that be?

-       If you scan the projects you did since we met last time, what was your favorite research(phase)?

The Conditioned Ignorance

Contrary to tendencies in contemporary art-pratices lighting design is still considered to be a 'product' - and as such not allowed to be part of the 'live' aspect of performing arts, denying that light needs to be adapted if the conditions change. Which is a very industrial/productive point of view.

-- conditions for post-production (read: touring) need to be fixed before the creation. Aware that lighting design needs time - sometimes victim of its own praxis - and thus has a major footprint in the post-production of a creation.

-- a situation of trust situation rather then contract - trust in people on the floor - trust in the touring company

-- example from a praxis: demand two weeks of creation/time after the première to make a plot production-ready.

-- in relation to the authorship: as in performing arts not the project is the brand but the author/initiator - the process is pending on a equilibrium between partition (shared) and responsability (singular).

A holistic thread on Tools

Lanbox is no longer acknowledged - or even allowed? - as a tool for individual artistic practice. The current tendency in theatres is to (be forced to) specialise in one specific (technical) protocol. The implications are manyfold:

-- practical: breaking in with your own device is become very difficult, not to say impossible. And at the same time programming a performance in a device becomes an important part of the production time on tour. Not only within the company but also for the theatre - they need to provide the programmer.

-- it takes technology out of the creative process - as it needs a linear translation for the local programmer - impacting last minute decisions on the spot. the conduite of a presentation becomes part of a negotiation.

-- deficit of lanbox as a designing tool as the translation pends on people with other technologies

What is the need of a personal tool - translate as: what possibility to create your instrument - opposed to the technical reality, looking for commercial standards.

Name a favourite research

(Henri) a project by Melanie Perrier - a childrens' performance, leaving from a genuine interest in light feeding the project - in search for the 'efficiency' of old tools. resulted in Matisse-like color shadows, rainbow from 20 2K-s, playing on korg as a piano.

(JanM) remark: there is nothing before creation. Preliminary is a part of creation and is a constant presence in the creation. Blessed as a solid dialectic process between the different media in full runs - creating unexpected circumstances and opportunities.

(JanF) yes: co-running different media at the same time allows them to become a piece - eventhough the workfields in bigger productions get differentiated, but then you need to pend on interpersonal connection.

(Emese) when creating becomes a process of radical wellness - and production a part of the concept

What's in it (for us)?

(Emese) reading Ikujiro Nonaka's Dynamic theory of organizational knowledge creation makes space for tacit knowledge and allows dialogue between explicit and embodied knowledge. Towards an articulation of commitment and an archive of practices: observe and write about one another's work, observe simple phenomena in a lexicon.

-- And how to turn this in an understanding of lighting design? Take perception as a startingpoint - perception of phenomena and of performances.