My first weeks as museum exhibition designer have been focused on learning about lighting design. As a jack-of-all-trades (and a control freak) I am excited to be adding another piece of the puzzle to understanding the totality of exhibition design. Lighting is indispensable to creating mood and atmosphere, beyond visibility and legibility.
While I took a class on lighting design I have not had previous practical experience. The first days were as basic as learning about the different line voltage, low voltage, and fiber optics fixtures used at my museum. We use 2 primary vendors: Lightolier and Edison Price. It took a bit of practice to learn how to replace lamps, lens, filters, screen, etc. in the various fixtures. It was pretty simple on the ground with a fixture in clear sight; however, it seemed much trickier at 20 feet while gently swaying in a lift.
An afternoon in a blank gallery hanging fixtures and experimenting with various lamp and lens combinations was invaluable, but the real understanding didn’t occur until trial and error illuminated what worked in an exhibition setting. I spent approximately 6 days working in a small team to light a large exhibit composed of paintings, photographs, posters, books, and prints. If it wasn’t enough to be conscious of each object light level restrictions the entire project was complicated by the ever-shifting light in galleries with many areas of beautiful sun exposure.
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