4 minute read
Lighting a Blockbuster
David Atkinson Lighting Design has provided a dramatic lighting treatment for the latest blockbuster exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London
David Atkinson Lighting Design (DALD) recently completed the lighting design for the ‘Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism’ exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.
This major exhibition features over 130 works by ten important Brazilian artists from the twentieth century, capturing the diversity of Brazilian art at the time.
In the early 20th century, a new modern art was emerging in Brazil. Starting in the 1910s and continuing into the 1970s, Brazilian artists were adapting contemporary trends, international influences and artistic traditions to create a new type of modern art – art informed by the vibrant cultures, identities and landscapes of Brazil.
Everyday life in Brazil was the subject of this new modernism, and the Indigenous identity and Afro-Brazilian experience were among the many influences these artists drew upon in their work. This was a group of people looking inward at their rich cultural resource to set a new course for modernism that was borne out across South America.
The exhibition brings an expanded view of Brazilian Modernism to UK audiences, showing work by artists who have historically received less exposure in this country, including Anita Malfatti, who spearheaded the movement, and Tarsila do Amaral, now internationally celebrated as a leading female figure of Brazilian Modernism.
The exhibition includes the self-taught artists Alfredo Volpi and Djanira da Motta e Silva, an artist of indigenous descent, Afro-Brazilian artist Rubem Valentim and performance artist, Flávio de Carvalho.
The majority of works come from rarely seen Brazilian private collections, as well as Brazilian public collections, most of which have never been exhibited in the UK.
The brief from the Royal Academy and exhibition designer Carla Jucaba to DALD was for the lighting to create tonal contrast between the galleries without detracting from the artwork, as well as adhering to conservation constraints.
The lighting design approach was simplistic but immersive, with each gallery being painted in a different shade. Subtle hues of colour wash the walls from high level track fixtures fitted with colour correction filters and carefully controlled by the addition of barndoors.
Central to the majority of gallery spaces, the exhibition designer included different shaped seating benches that incorporated LED strips in a warm colour temperature to the underside to create a floating quality from the floors.
Within each gallery important work was displayed on stepped ‘Focus Panels’ which incorporated LED strips, creating a halo offset, with each LED strip being tuned to the appropriate gallery colour. The focus panel artworks were lit by softly focused zoom profile fixtures mounted off the existing high-level tracks.
The majority of artwork was lit by a combination of medium and narrow fixtures at 2700 Kelvin, sculpture was lit from softly focused profile fixtures.
DALD utilised The Royal Academy’s stock of iGuzzini Palco fixtures with various accessories along with a supplement of LED zoom profiles, which were all controlled via Casambi.
The ‘Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism’ exhibition has received outstanding five-star acclaim from the world’s press.
PROJECT CREDITS
Exhibition design: Carla Jucaba
Lighting design: David Atkinson Lighting Design
Technical lighting manger: Paul Simson
Lighting team: Micheal Scott, Michael Lynch, Jason Tuffin, Anita Sidoruk
Lighting suppliers: Enliten, iGuzzini
Graphic design: Pentagram
Curators: Dr Fabienne Eggelhöfer, Roberta Saraiva Coutinho, Dr Adrian Locke, Rebecca Bray with Natasha Fyffe
Exhibition manager: Flora Fricker with Helena Cooper Exhibition organised by the Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Arts, London.
Photos: Royal Academy of Arts
