Date: October 13-16, 2009
Program: Workshop, City Survey, Symposium
Venue: Central Acadamy of Art, Gouzijian
8th Annual Transnational Tanteidan Forum Beijing 2009
Workshop: 2009.10.13-15 Central Academy of Art No.8, HuaJiaDi Nanjie, Chaoyang District, Beijing
Forum: 2009.10.16 GuoZiJian (The Imperial College during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties)
The 8th annual Transnational Forum was held in Beijing in October 2009, a year after Olympic hype! The theme for the workshop and forum: “Enjoy Eco Lighting.”
TN Tanteidan Forum Under Reconstruction
The Transnational Tanteidan Forum tour of core member cities ended in the autumn of 2008 with the Belgrade Forum and a new chapter in forum history began. A year before the start and in the midst of Olympic enthusiasm, the lighting detectives were searching for new and exciting ideas for the 2009 Beijing Forum. Guidelines for the Beijing Forum include:
1. Joint theme for workshop and forum
2. Workshop: a city walking tour in the form of “Lighting Heroes and Villains”
3. Forum: Instead of core member presentations a more improvisational discussion
Core members from Japan and Europe were slightly concerned about irregular mishaps or events in China, but the new Beijing Chapter offered passionate and dedicated local support for a very productive workshop and forum.
Workshop: Light and Shadow Search in Beijing
WS Day 1: Out on the Streets of Beijing
87 students from Tokyo, Stockholm, and all over China gathered for a 2-day workshop. Under the joint workshop-forum theme, “Enjoy Eco Lighting,” the students were broken into 5 teams to survey the lights of Beijing.
1. Landmark / Monument
2. Residence
3. Office
4. Commercial
5. Street / Plaza
Many students were first-timers bringing fresh points of view and analysis to the groups.
Armed with cameras, illuminometers, sketchbooks, ect. the groups of 13 to 14 students attracted attention from locals as the walked the streets. Especially the “Residence” group who were stopped numerous times. During one of these stops the students were told that because of the rush to be environmentally-friendly the lights in the plaza where many gathered where replaced with weaker, dimmer lighting so many elder were not able to go out after dark.
WS Day 2: Data Analysis & Panal
Each team held group discussions and crafted slides and panels for presentation. Despite, different backgrounds and, of course, language barriers, each team powered forward to complete the tasks in a short amount of allotted time.
WS Presentation:
Each team leader, a TNT core member, led the discussion with other student team members concerning their objective area of the Beijing nightscape. Survey sketches and photos revealed an important glimpse of Beijing, inclusive of its proud history and energizing new developments.
I was part of the Riverside Team. Although there were specific spots for viewing the city from the riverside, most of the nightscape was dominated by darkness, with high-pressure sodium lamps and orange light filtering out from residential windows sparsely lighting the streets. I thought, it would have been nice to have some kind of pleasant, inviting light for a nightly stroll.
The workshop, itself, was held over two and a half days, but panel work, preparation, and the final presentations were all finished on a tight one-day schedule. Through excellent cooperation from the international group of students, each group completed very different panels to present to a sellout crowd. This was the first time for many local Belgrade University students to walk through the streets of their own city with such a focus on lighting. This experience really opened their eyes to a different side of the city.
TN Tanteidan Forum at GuoZiJian
The forum took place at very important historical building, GuoZiJian, or Imperial College, the highest institute of learning in China`s traditional educational system during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties. On the day of the forum, a red carpet was laid from the entrance and the buildings specially lit up
At the forum: “Enjoy Eco Lighting”
Chief Mende kicked off the forum with a simple greeting and was accompanied by Royal Institute of Technology in Stocholm, or KTH, Professor Jan as main commentators for the forum.
The informal discussion started with core members who prepared responses and brought sample photos about questions concerning light sent to each chapter beforehand. Each question and response was unique to the lighting culture of the chapters. With Professor Jan`s assistance each response was carefully connected to the next to create one big picture of “Enjoying Eco Lighting” over the course of the 3 1/2 hour forum.
Refreshments and conversation in the courtyard afterwards aroused further discussion and a finale to the 8th Annual Transnational Tanteidan Forum 2009.
