by Katja Neumann, 09.01.2009
LED is the lighting of the future, hardly anyone doubts it anymore. For architects, designers and interior architects, too, the use of the small light-emitting diodes will soon be part of their everyday work. The reasons for this, apart from the energy efficiency and low maintenance of LEDs, are above all the design possibilities in terms of control and color. Current developments in this lighting technology are now the subject of an exhibition at the Gewerbemuseum Winterthur. "LED - Staging Light and Color" was conceived in collaboration with the LED-ColourLab research project of the Zurich University of the Arts and offers the opportunity to experience the experimental investigations developed in the laboratory setting in walk-in installations.
"It makes no sense to talk about a color emanating from colored light without also talking about the material it illuminates and the visual context in which it is seen," says American artist James Turrell. If a lighting situation or the color material changes even minimally, different color perceptions arise. Experimental investigations into the interactions of dynamic light and surface colors, as well as the development and prototypical implementation of innovative applications, are thus the central research focus of the LED-ColourLab project at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHDK), headed by Prof. Ulrich Bachmann.
LED research at the ZHDK
Funded within the framework of the Swiss Innovation and Research Promotion by the Swiss Federal Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI), the project team is working out fundamental findings in various experimental setups, which are to serve as basic knowledge and orientation aids for architects, designers, interior architects and scenographers in dealing with LED technology. In doing so, the project team has access to the latest developments in lighting technology, paint production and powder coating technology through collaboration with research and business partners Philips Lighting Switzerland, IGP Pulvertechnik and kt.COLOR - all of which feeds into the research work. Part of the LED-ColourLab project also includes presentation of the results as part of the exhibition at the Gewerbemuseum Winterthur, which can be seen until May 3 of this year.
The effect of color and light
"LED - Staging Light and Color" uses three spatial and walk-through color-light installations to illustrate the relationship between LED lighting and colored surfaces. The rooms in which the various experimental setups of the LED ColorLab can be found provide an insight into the design potential of this lighting technology and convey to visitors in a practical way the diversity of dynamic LED light in combination with colored surfaces. For the installation "Color-Light Patterns", for example, 255 different colored surfaces were combined on a large wall surface, which are illuminated with a dynamic LED light composition, causing their colorfulness to change permanently. The room installation "LED Farb-Licht Klaviaturen" consists of a sequence of 15 large-format wall elements painted with different color tones. By means of LED lights, the colored surfaces are exposed to changing light colors. This encounter of colored light and pigment colors ultimately creates surprising shifts in color tone. The room installation "White to White", on the other hand, shows a series of differently coated white wall surfaces, which are illuminated by LED lights with subtly colored white light. In a very differentiated way, the visitor can thus experience a wide range of white or even only apparent white in the space. Finally, in a fourth area of the exhibition, background information on design research, LED technology and information on surface colors and coatings is presented in a generally understandable way in text, images and in videos. And last but not least, a game table invites all visitors, young and old, to experiment with dynamic LED lights and colored surfaces themselves.
The exhibition in the Gewerbemuseum also serves as a test room for the LED-ColourLab project team. The experimental setups set up here serve as both exhibits and research subjects. For example, the "LED-ColourCase" set-up developed and built by the researchers provides fundamental insights into the effect of different colors in changing light situations. Here, the effects of different LED light settings and other light sources on colors are tested and described. These findings are subsequently incorporated into the development of a mobile simulation apparatus, the "LED-ColourBox". There, essential space-defining features are physically simulated and evaluated in different lighting situations and color settings.
LED - staging light and color
Gewerbemuseum Winterthur
November 8, 2008 to May 3, 2009
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