The Library of Light

We would like to introduce The Library of Light, a practical and ongoing research project led by two lighting designers and researchers, Jo Joelson and Hansjörg Schmidt.

The Library of Light is a developing, international and interdisciplinary archive of light works. The library has two parts: a cabinet which houses donated artworks, recorded interviews, traces of designs and processes (such as lighting plans, research and development notes or outputs, etc), a curated collections of images and other visual materials. And a digital repository in form of a website, which holds digital copies of a selection of works from the library and is an open resource.

All the works donated to and collected in the library are records of light works, and the people and processes that have been involved in their creation. The Library holds works by a wide spectrum of practitioners concerned with light: designers and artists, engineers and scientists, musicians and surgeons, and many more.

The Library of Light does not aim to be an all inclusive record of light, but a forum for discussion, engagement and education towards a fuller appraisal and understanding of light as a material that connects and shapes a wide variety of cultural, historical, and social discourse. Inclusion of work into the Library is by invitation, and it is envisaged that the Library will continually grow and change, in response to our global society’s developing relationship to light.

Hansjorg Schmidt: Hansjörg Schmidt is a lighting designer, working regularly with a group of UK based artists and theatre companies. He is also the Programme Director Lighting Design at Rose Bruford College in London, and his research interests lie in the area of lighting, environment and narrative. He graduated with a BA (First Class Honours) in Drama and Theatre Arts from Goldsmiths College, and a MSc in Build Environment: Light and Lighting from the Bartlett School, UCL.