LEDSFOCUS used on works at the “EUGENE STUDIO After the rainbow” exhibition

I visited the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo after closing and spoke with the artist, Mr. Kangawa, and Ms. Takahashi of Light Meister, who was in charge of the exhibition’s lighting.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to talk with me.
Also, thank you very much for using our LEDSFOCUS PRO light projector.
May I ask how this exhibition was completed, especially the works for which you used our company’s LEDs?


Mr. Kangawa
There were various images in this exhibition, ranging from bright, near natural light to complete darkness.
When creating the brightness of “a small fraction of that on the night of a new moon” for the work “Pitch darkness-Noh” at the National Art Center, Tokyo in 2019, I asked Light Meister for technical support to realize a faintly visible light after the human eye became accustomed to the darkness.
Based on that experience, when planning this exhibition, I began discussions with Light Meister more than a year ago, wanting to think with them about the overall lighting design.


Ms. Takahashi
We supported the technical parts from the early stages of planning for the light of the entire exhibition, especially for the areas where light was to be integrated with the artwork.

Mr. Kangawa
Light Meister made proposals that were close to my images from the early stages of our meetings.

Ms. Takahashi
Since sharing the images and nuances of light with the artist is required, at Light Meister, we keep in mind sharing not only our extensive experiences and subjective impressions, but also numerical data obtained through actual experiments and measurements.

You have a wonderful relationship, don’t you?
I would like to ask about the use of light projectors in your work.
First, there is a work you called “Sea garden,” which is located near the entrance and stretches over a vast space. The water surface spreading over this very large space creates a fantastic atmosphere in which it is hard to tell where the space ends and the work begins.

Mr. Kangawa
The work is lit by natural light during the day, and then after sunset the work receives different light from Stanley’s lighting.

Ms. Takahashi
Stanley’s devices realize a light that those of ordinary lighting manufacturers do not.
It is sharp, and not made by anybody else, and I think it matches the place as though it is the only thing available.

Mr. Kangawa
I was experimenting with models and the like to see if I could create a situation where natural daylight would shine through, when Light Meister proposed this lighting (LEDSFOCUS PRO).

Ms. Takahashi
I thought that the photometric controlled light clearly suited the space that Mr. Kangawa had imagined.
However, since it is light for an artwork to be exhibited in a museum, the light devices should be simple and not create noise in the space.
That is how we arrived at this device.

Mr. Kangawa
The subtle photometric control created a wonderful situation.
In addition, it was possible to realize photometrics that could not have been generated using normal methods with special technology and lenses.

- Thank you.
We applied photometrics technology cultivated in automotive lighting.
This space was very strange in terms of where the light source was and how it illuminated, and combined with the grandeur of the works, it was a very comfortable space.


Mr. Kangawa
I think some people may not even realize that we are using lighting.
We expressed lines of light using the devices and special effects, and I think we were able to realize light that continues forever, something I have not seen very often before.

Ms. Takahashi
We carried out special processing on the devices to realize that image, and for their positions, we considered angles close to natural light matched to the architecture.
Because of that, people may not know where the light is coming from and what kind of light creates this kind of space.
We realized that light only because of the special photometrics of Stanley’s devices.

Thank you for that compliment.
You used the LEDSFOCUS PRO for the “Sea garden,” but the single LEDSFOCUS for “Gold Rain,” the other work that you used one of our company’s light projectors for.
The falling particles were illuminated by a single light projector installed in the ceiling.


Mr. Kangawa
This is a work in which gold, silver and other particles fall from a five to six-meter high ceiling.
By creating layers of light, complex changes occurred as the particles fell through the light.

I stared at this work, which was surreal and showed various expressions one after another.


Ms. Takahashi
In embodying this work, we consulted with Mr. Kangawa for more than a year and completed it after repeating trial and error with samples.
To create the light for this work, we had to create layers with the light by zoning with light under photometric control of three degrees or less.

Mr. Kangawa
When I presented in Paris in 2019, it was in natural light, but this time I made it in a dark space, so narrow light was better than light with wide photometrics.
Actually, looking at the state of the light, I think the depth of this piece increased.
Light and shadow occur simultaneously so narrowly controlled light is important to create shadow.
About six months ago, when we darkened the studio and looked at “Gold rain” and the lighting test, the light was so bright everybody’s voices were raised.
Gold or silver, the color and size of each particle are different, as is the speed at which they fall.
It is a simple state, but the light brings about complex changes.

Ms. Takahashi
To make the gold and silver look beautiful, I experimented with multiple different color temperatures and decided on the highest color temperature that best suited my image.
I feel that a world view is expressed by the various gold colors.

- It was a wonderful piece that made me want to keep looking at it.
I hope that even more people will be able to see the other works too.
I am very happy to have been able to cooperate with this beautiful work through light.
Thank you very much for today.

Used on “Sea garden”
Photo left: 9-light type LEDSFOCUS PRO, 2.5° (special lens specification), 5 units


Used on “Gold rain”
Photo right: LEDSFOCUS LLM0854A, 2.5°, 8 units