The biennial Euroluce exhibition--the epicenter for all things light at Salone del Mobile, Fiera Milano, Rho this week in Pavilions 9-11 and 13-15 – is dubbed this year the "The City of Lights" for its focus on holistic approaches and efficiency in the product category. Wellness is at the center of this segment as 2023's releases spotlight just how much lighting can affect behavior, mood and productivity. Consequently, lighting designers today not only have to contend with technological evolution, but also with philosophical thinking around light, to come up with new concepts that will change the way luminaries are designed in the future.
This dazzling display of lighting design, science and art will include so many opportunities to learn with a variety of video, audio and visual installations, exhibits and talks that will show attendees exactly how one can push the envelope when it comes to using lighting to elevate a space via the three main themes of the show:
Sustainability
Energy savings has driven lighting design and production over the past decade. The development of new, low energy and high efficiency LED sources and new network control systems has responded to that need for energy optimization. But the industry has also focused on using recycled or recyclable, low impact raw materials as well as the production of luminaires suitable for several applications, which reduces the various molds needed and manufacturing emissions, all contributing back to a more circular economy.
Digitization
Luminaires are now being produced with integrated loT control systems to create actively changing light, support data collection and are controllable by smartphones and tablets for personalization. The future of technical lighting seeks to serve as sources of information and signal tools for workspaces and public places. Early applications of LiFi (Light Fidelity) technology are now a reality. LED-emitted light waves transmit data wirelessly, which may transform all LED sources into information transmitters. Advanced digitization will influence product designs to provide a more dynamic light capable of reacting to external stimuli, in terms of quantity, quality and light beam direction to adjust to the environment.
Human Centric Lighting
Neuroscience is an innovative factor in the technical lighting field, connecting the physiological and neurophysiological characteristics of people and the architecture of spaces they live in. This new segment tries to mimic natural sunlight as much as possible to help make people feel good through high quality, dynamic light that varies throughout the day to promote concentration and relaxation, regulating our circadian rhythm, inhibiting, or stimulating melatonin production. Advanced products use people’s physical reactions to intervene when stress or malaise are present by modifying light parameters, color temperature and light color to recreate conditions of wellbeing.
Within the main arena, Aurore (the large plaza in Pavilion 13 designed by Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin (Formafantasma)) a series of talks is being held by some of the most brilliant figures on the contemporary lighting scene today, such as Shigeru Ban, Kjetil Trædal Thorsen and Marius Myking of Snøhetta, Nao Tamura, and Andrea D’Antrassi of MAD who will discuss the latest innovations in the field. When not in use, the Aurore is an immersive video and audio installation reflecting on light both as a product and as a natural phenomenon, and on its existential side: a meditative space in which the effects of light on human beings and beyond can be gauged.
Other exhibitions include:
Natura,Tempo e Architettura (Nature, Time and Architecture) by Hélène Binet
Curated by Massimo Curzi
An original selection of images from contemporary photographer, Hélène Binet, will explore the relationship between natural light and architecture, nature and time, and provide a visual narration of works by some of the leading masters of architecture. The set-up was devised to provide an opportunity for pause and reflection while visiting the fair.
The exterior of a double architectural volume is covered in brushed aluminum, while the interior is covered in sheets of midnight blue felt, to create a powerful contrast between “in” and “out.” The felt covering the interior walls will highlight the exhibited works, and create a muffled, silent acoustic environment designed to provide a moment of suspended time as compared with the frenetic, teeming exterior.
Interno Notte. ArtificiLuminosi (Interior Night. Bright Artifacts)
Curated by Michele Calzavara
Exhibition Project: Berfu Bengisu Goren
This is an exhibition of architectural images of interiors in which artificial light is the protagonist. This showing is populated with figures, accents, glows, constellations, rhythms, points, vectors and the occasional “capriccio” of light in which a lightbulb or light source can be made out, creatively inhabiting and transforming the space. It explores families of design solutions, particular details, and real inventions, as collections or large and small case studies.
This exhibit is also a study in duality, interpreted with spaces and volumes that evidence the reciprocal relationships of opposing perceptual qualities such as light and dark, open and closed, public and private.
Design Albe. Luci di Domani (Dawns.The Lights of Tomorrow)
Curated by Matteo Pirola
Exhibition Project: From Outer Space
The night sky with its infinity of stars and the daytime sky with its sun provide the palette for this install. The research and works that have gone into this exhibition, a balance of technology and poetry, clearly evidence how luminous objects light a pathway leading to the future. These “artificial stars” are orbiting spheres, reflective surfaces, blinding eclipses, colored dawns and celestial hues that are laid out throughout the experience. The exhibition is configured around the presence (or absence) of light, and its ability to change the perception of space. A fragmented floor plan maps out an internal path across spaces characterized by different luminous atmospheres: darkness, semi-darkness, pure light and vice versa, exalting the essence of the works on display.
If you enjoy any of these exhibits, please tag us in your social media pix @iandsdesign (IG) #salonedelmobile2023 #euroluce2023!
