Lightemotion Unveils the Secrets of the Auckland Museum

Montréal, July 17, 2008

After Singapore, it’s now New Zealand’s turn to enlist the services of François Roupinian and his team. Lightemotion has created the lighting design for the Secrets Revealed exhibitionthat opened on the 12th of Julyat the Auckland Museum. The secrets referred to in the title are in fact the objects and collections bequeathed to museums that so often end up in the reserves, unseen. The exhibit documents the course of these forgotten objects in an unexpected display.

Dr. Vanda Vitali, museum director, called on Lightemotion to create a luminous frame that would amaze visitors, piqueing their curiosity. “We wanted to solicit emotion”, states François Roupinian. “You had to see the rapt faces of the curators, when, for the first time, they saw in a new light masks that they believed they knew so intimately, but whose immense theatrical power they had never recognized!”

The gallery housing the exhibit by French scenographer Marion Lyonnais was divided into seven tableaux. Each step in the journey of these objects is evoked in its own dramatic composition, from their arrival and uncrating to conservation and display. Fibre optics are used for the tiny objects in cabinets and display cases, in combination with fluorescent tubes that ensure a glowing, even light. From the ceiling, projections and black light add their contribution to the lighting of Secrets Revealed. Once again, thanks to the thoughtful application of the simplest methods, Lightemotion truly touches the spectator.

In parallel, the Lightemotion team is looking into ideas for lighting the architectural spaces and the permanent galleries of the Auckland Museum that recently underwent renovations.