Go Out into the Night City and Search for Lighting Heroes and Villains!2018/07/26　　Noriko Higashi + Leon Hitsu + Hikaru Kimura + Yuri Araki + Shosaku Takahashi + Aiko Kanda It was a lively workshop with a total of 49 participants A Look at the Orientation We recently held a Lighting Detectives Jr. workshop for the first time in a while in Tokyo’s record-breaking summer heat. 24 energetic children and their guardians searched for lighting heroes and villains around Omotesando and Cat Street. The LPA conference room was filled with children in late July, just as summer vacation began. The Night Walk Survey workshop was held for the first time in three years, and 24 children, ranging from first graders to ninth graders, gathered, even though the capacity was only 15. The staff discussed how to get children, who don’t usually think about lighting, interested and what lessons they should take away. The workshop targeted the following goals: ■OrientationFirst, chief Mende explained the basics of lighting. He offered a simple breakdown of the history of lighting, starting with fire, the impact of different color temperatures on people, and the differences in lighting placement between homes in Japan and abroad. Following that, he introduced the participants to the elements that make up a city’s lighting and explained what constitutes a lighting hero and villain before the group set off for the walk. Children sharing their opinions during the Night Walk Survey Measurement…

Candle Night Summer Solstice 2010 June 19, 2010 “Turn off the lights and take it slow.” This is the campaign slogan for Candle Night, a movement started in 2003 on the summer solstice by an environmental NPO. Nationally, the event is unofficially planned for the summer and winder solstices, and persistence from local groups have turned it into a huge event to enjoy a different kind of evening by candlelight. Candlenight@OMOTESANDO-Eco Avenue Candle Night along Omotesando was held for two hours on June 19th, 2010 from 8pm to 10pm in the evening. The Harajuku / Omotesando Candle Night started on the 2003 winter solstice. This year marks the 10th event along the popular shopping street. The theme for 2010 summer solstice was “Encounters with Candles x LEDs.” In contrast to candles, which have been used for hundreds and hundreds of years, LEDs are the latest gadget in optical technology. This year visitors encountered hybrid installations using both candles and LEDs along the zelkova lined street. For the event, 611 staff members, mostly art university students in the Tokyo precinct, were recruited and collaborated to present a unified, coexistence of warm candlelight and techno LED installations. Candle Installations The theme this year was “Encounters with candle x LED,”so it wasn`t just candle light along the street, but a combination of candles and LEDs for a variety of installations. Installations included, stacked wine glasses with candles inside and softly emitted blue LED…

The infrastructure of Munbai is well built, creating a well-lit road surface from a horrendous traffic situation and colonial technology. In contrast, the chaotic bazaar boasts incandescent lights. Rich and poor, concentrated light and shadows all inhabit the same spaces. Looking down on the market, clothes and other daily necessities are laid out in narrow shops. The intense glow of a single light in front of each shop, also contributes to the public lighting environment. As the night cools off, the market becomes a clutter of people and our camera attracts the interests of many shoppers. A section sketch of the marketplace. 500lx registered at ground level in the middle of the narrow street, the same amount needed for an office environment.

Words are Tricky, but Important Interviewer:　Haruka Sakoda 2. It`s important to flip through a dictionary from time to time 3. City Walk. Brainstorming for keywords to describe images. Sakoda：At work I feel it is better to make a phone call then to discuss a project over email with a client in Hong Kong or China. Without using visual aids or images one really has to think about what they are saying and choose words carefully. Mende：Are you good with words? Were you talkative from a young age or kept a diary? Sakoda：No, and my writing is also hard to understand. I think I rely on a lot of onomatopoeic and imitative words instead of going into a full explanation. I realize this since now I have to use English at work. For example, in Japanese I might say something like “fuwaa” which means floating or a sense of weightlessness. I don`t know how to explain this sensation. When talking with a client, usually English is neither of our native language and English skill levels are also different. Usually the speaker will fall into grammatical habits that confuse the meaning and construe word interpretation. In order to correctly express one`s ideas manner of speaking and word choice are important. Are you careful of your word choices or conscious of wording? Mende：During a lecture, I feel my words can touch and move the audience in different ways and that is all I…

Theme:　Light art and Lighting design Interviewer:　Blanche Lam Blanche：LPA is a lighting design firm. The works mainly focuses on design rather than art. What do you think about design and art? Mende： Good question! But I’d like to ask you before my correct answer, Blanche. Blanche：I studied both art and design before. Art could be explained through personal emotion or convey the message to visitor/ audience. Each artwork has its own story. For design, depends on user or purpose or different situation to improve and change. How about you, what do you think about art or artist? Mende： Artist is a great career. I like art but I decided not to be an artist. Artists are more isolated spiritually. Recently, there are many people saying that designers should be much closer to artist and artist might learn many things from designer. But I don’t think so. We should be inspired by each other. However, artist doesn’t need to think about the neighborhood or others happiness. Just express their feeling or passion. But the designer always think somebody else happiness. Blanche： How about “lighting art”? Mende：I’m not familiar with this word “lighting art”, usually I would say light art. I know James Turrell and Olafur Eliasson, great artist who manipulate light as material. You cannot forget those two artists. I respect their works very much. Olafur Eliasson had an exhibition in London that is huge artificial sunlight. They cannot be compared with…