Rogier van der Heide had very interesting ideas. He discusses the aesthetics of lighting design, but also how we can achieve greater sustainability through our choices in lighting methods as designers. For me, the most surprising part of the TED talk was when he showed the image of the Earth and referred to the glowing city lights as “wasted light.” I had never conceived of it in this way. I always thought that light simply emanates from the source. Rogier van der Heide, however, proposed a solution to this. Using small LEDs would allow designers to carefully select exactly where they want the light to go, such that none of it is wasted to the skies.
James Turrell has long been one of my absolute favorite artists. I had the opportunity to watch one of his Skyspaces at Rice University in Houston a few years ago, and it was one of my most memorable experiences ever. Just as he discussed in this video, Turrell uses light to fully manipulate and toy with his viewers sense of perception. The particular piece I observed used colored lights to juxtapose against the changing colors of the sky during the sunset. This meant that by using unique pairings of colors, Turrell could vastly affect how I perceived the actual sky to look. For example, when the lights would turn red, the sky would seem an unnatural shade of green, as our eyes created visual contrast between the artificial light and the natural light from the sky.
Hussein Chalayan’s work is very eclectic and covers many disciplines. I was most moved by his versatile furniture that can be converted to dresses and accessories. I enjoyed how Chalayan used his background and his mother’s story as a war refuge to inspire his artworks and designs. I also appreciated how he blended his work seamlessly from high art to runway design and then to accessible design. These are three completely different modes of working for completely different audiences, but the products Chalayan realized were each well suited to their respective audiences.
