Pythagoras believed that the eye was like a lighthouse for the soul, that shone a light to help us explore the environment around us and allow us to perceive it. Democritus, a very influential exponent of the atomists, believed that light travelled from the object to the eye thus triggering sight.

In the Middle Ages light represented the divine, during the Age of Enlightenment it reached its peak becoming a metaphor of the means by which man can “emerge from his self-imposed nonage”, as written by Kant, portrayed by the obscurantism of the Counter-Reformation as the human incapacity to autonomously make use of one’s intellect.

Why does light have such a deep relevance? Only when it is absent and darkness fills its place does man acknowledge its importance and its magic. Light is what allows man to experience reality and interpret its beauty with our own eyes, giving us the freedom to live appreciating its magnificence without limiting life to a struggle for survival. Without light the world would be a place of confused colourless masses because thanks to light we can perceive colours, important elements that make reality seem like a painting and transform ordinary shapes into works of art. From its brightness colours are born and from colours beauty is born, this is the primary characteristic of the reality man can perceive thanks to the brilliance and pure energy of light; it is the fulcrum, the fifth element that gives origin to the first four, passing through our eyes and reaching our intellect allowing us to be aware of water, air, land and fire, all things that without light would not exist in our sight.

So let us close with a quote from Plato: “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”
Maddalena Bellasio

RegineSchumann.de

Junichi Hakoyama

The first word we encounter is “lighting”. A great start then; the first image is instead of Lorenzo who searches the darkness with two flashlights like with binoculars. Light and dark are in conflict all the time: the darkness seems to prevail, it insists, it is rampant. But then there are light beams that strike a detail and take it to the front. Light doesn’t always necessarily wins, which, incidentally, with no darkness won’t be emphasized so strongly in the metaphor of the absolute positive. Light is good, darkness no. It ‘s true, at night everything seems more vivid (only apparent contradiction): feelings are more intense, dreams almost real, thoughts heavier. The non-light urges us to revise every event from another point of view, sometimes even making complex simple things. So it’s nice that the author of “Io penso positivo” wanted the shadows and darkness with him, even though just to show that he can overcome them, or at least handle. In short, an unconventional interview, where the words are accompanied by images and movement. The covered themes are important: love, friendship, life, fear, creativity, religion. Many aspects of a personality that could be joined in one word, mainly: energy. Why is undeniable, Lorenzo Cherubini Jovanotti has energy in spades, and light, too. Lorenzo Illuminated, interview by Nur Al Habash and Emilio Periferico. Video art direction by Toni Thorimbert. Interactive art direction by Marco Rosella.

You can find the complete interview here: www.rockit.it/lorenzo-2015-cc-jovanotti-illuminato/
For those who haven’t still had the chance to see Jovanotti live, these are the dates of its Summer tour: www.soleluna.com/tour
For those who were at the concert in Milan and wants to read an “alternative” review here it is: www.estetica-mente.com/eventi/live/jovanotti

However, for those of you who will listen to it very carefully, it’s about lighting from an almost technical point of view. The question is: neon light or lampshade – what’s better? The beloved woman is able to make the fluorescent tube look like the milky way, while the bedside lamp evokes the couple’s unique and profound intimacy – it’s gone away now, but he will never forget it… There’s one flaw though: light has evolved in the meantime: when will we speak about LED lighting?

The artists in question are Thegiornalisti  (yes, you read it right – just one word), an Italian alternative rock band. The song “Per lei” (For her) is included in their third album, Fuoricampo, which came out in 2014.

Here’s the full lyrics (cool, huh?)

For her the sun shines even in Turin
For her the trees blossom in October
and the city has the same scent as the countryside
For her, thanks to whom the neon is transformed into the milky way
and I hate the neon, but not so much
when it reminds me that
we both love
the lampshade’s light more
For her

You can listen to the song on YouTube  and in case you want to see them performing live, you can check Thegiornalisti’s summer tour dates on their Facebook official page:  www.facebook.com/thegiornalisti

Source: Lettera43  http://www.lettera43.it/video/la-luce-cambia-il-volto_43675113473.htm

There is (there isn’t) light and perception is influenced, the work changes. This is the intent of the section “Light elsewhere”. Discover together with you what and how the light made us dream, but not only.

Share with us your favourite light citations: movies, music, tv shows, art … everything is accepted!

Let’s start with one of our proposal: a painting by Balla, one of the leading exponents of Italian Futurism, which with its “Arc lamp” represents the magic of light refraction. The painting was purchased and is still exhibited at the MOMA in New York and the artist described it as follows: I painted the lamp picture during my pointillist period (1900-1910); in fact, the glow of light is obtained through the combination of pure colours. This picture not only is an original artwork, it is scientific too because I tried to represent the light by separating the colours that compose it… Light in futurist key!