Presenting art with light: From neutral white cubes to Hollywood-style theatrical displays

Light generates highly different atmospheres in exhibition spaces. Skylights in traditional studios provide soft, diffuse light for a neutral ambience throughout the day, whereas electric lighting with wallwashing creates a comparatively calm and sober character. This also creates ideal surroundings for providing an objective impression of the works of art. For a long time many museums worked with this principle of daylight or with diffuse skylights or light ceilings, although a sense of monotony may be created in the spaces themselves and when observing art because of this low-contrast method of display. Historical museums in particular compensated for this uniformity by either subtly or intensively varying the saturation and brightness of wall colors across the individual exhibition rooms. A similar effect of contrast can also be achieved with lighting.

If an exhibition focuses on a wide range of exhibits or aims to achieve a contemplative mood, lighting should be used to underline this atmosphere and attain a neutral approach. Because artists frequently work with functional, diffuse lighting in their studios, they consequently aim for such lighting conditions in exhibitions. Furthermore, the modern era has put an end to the opulently embellished gallery rooms of the nineteenth century to now present art in sober, empty spaces. The art critic Brian O’Doherty summarized this development in his influential publication "Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space" (1976). For the artists of the Color Field movement these empty, objective rooms provided an ideal backdrop for their art. As a consequence, part of the responsibility of a lighting designer is to capture this approach via lighting, as explained by the lighting designer Scott Rosenfeld who worked on the "Color Field Gallery" in the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington. "Our objective when lighting our modern galleries, especially the one dedicated to Color Field painting, is to help artworks to appear as a natural extension of the white wall. The lighting should subtly 'pop' works off the wall without making them look 'spot lit'. If the relationship between the wall and the work is perfect, it will appear almost to float on the wall."

With regard to the mass of images available during everyday life and in museums in particular, curators are faced with the challenge of focusing attention on individual works of art. In the movie industry, Hollywood uses intensive accent lighting to present film stars at festivals on red carpets, or for strikingly emphasizing actors in movies by using intensive bright-dark contrasts.
If during exhibitions the space itself visually takes a step back, exhibits are automatically placed in the foreground, thereby enabling observers to concentrate more effectively on the works of art. Dark colored walls in historical museums have also achieved this effect to create a subtle impression of depth that directs attention more strongly to the art, but because bright, white walls tend to dominate modern exhibition rooms in our times, this method of design has been completely neglected by many galleries. Despite this, individual works of art can be significantly emphasized and the above-described depth effect achieved if a spotlight generates a contrast in brightness to the surroundings with a distinctly accentuated cone of light. This then places the brightly illuminated picture in the foreground while the wall plane adopts only secondary importance. Accent lighting can also establish hierarchies in perception by using different illuminance levels, in turn enabling curators to connect between works of art and the exhibition within a space, or else structure a sequence of rooms.

Because curators and exhibition organizers approach museums with exceedingly different lighting needs, responses often quickly result in technically complex lighting solutions. Not only do works of art themselves require different forms of lighting because of their size, but artists as well as in-house or external curators also need to express a variety of desires about how to use light in exhibitions to optimum effect. Furthermore, the repositioning of exhibition walls may demand the spatial rearrangement of luminaires.
Permanently installed luminaire systems covering only one lighting requirement such as the narrow accenting of small exhibits, the bathing of large artworks with light or wallwashing for pictures do not qualify due to economic aspects. Hardly any museum has the funds to maintain a wide selection of alternative luminaires for all their spaces, and for this reason the solution is found in a flexible and simple to handle strategy. As a result, a flexible infrastructure consisting of tracks, spotlights and interchangeable lenses is initially required to respond appropriately to new exhibits if the exhibition is changed. Tracks are predestined for this purpose because their luminaires can be replaced without effort, and they can also be used in exhibitions for the power supply of exhibits via adapters or for the mechanical suspension of objects. The second level of flexibility is found in easily aligned spotlights that can be adjusted precisely according to the individual artworks – for example with the classic tilt angle of 30° for harmonious modeling with light and shadow, or with a steep light incidence direction that creates dramatic grazing light to emphasize textures with hard shadowing.

Die opulente Präsentation von Kunst in lichtdurchfluteten Räumen oder mit dramatischer Akzentuierung mag verführerisch sein, um hohe Besucherzahlen und zahlreiche Sponsoren für eine wirtschaftlich erfolgreiche Ausstellung zu erreichen. Diese Strategie bleibt bei sensiblen Exponaten aber nicht ohne negative Konsequenzen. Irreversible fotochemische Reaktionen sowie Effekte durch Wärmestrahlung gefährden die langfristige Schau des Objektes. Am offensichtlichsten fällt der Verlust von Farbe auf, wenn infolge hoher UV-Strahlung Farben verblassen und dem Kunstwerk den kraftvollen Ausdruck nehmen. Durch den hohen Anteil von UV-Strahlung im Tageslicht ist ein sensibler Umgang mit verglasten Fenstern und Glasdächern besonders essentiell. Doch auch durch die elektrische Beleuchtung entsteht eine UV-Belastung für die Exponate. Glücklicherweise fällt der Schädigungsfaktor bei modernen warmweißen LEDs noch geringer aus als bei Niedervolt-Halogenlampen mit UV-Filter. Mit dem Wechsel von Temperaturstrahlern, wie der Halogenlampe, hin zur LED ergibt sich ein weiterer bedeutender Vorteil für den Konservator: Das Problem der Infrarot-Strahlung hat sich aufgelöst, da die weißen LEDs im Vergleich zu ihren Vorgängern keine Infrarotstrahlung emittieren.