Light, Space, and Perception is workshop/work group led by Daniel Canogar, Julian Oliver and Pablo Valbuena that aims to conduct research and experiments with the use of light, projection, and visual perception in different settings, gathering people from fields including architecture, visual arts, urbanism, stage and set design, programming, physics, optics, psychology, and the physiology of perception :: Medialab - Prado, Plaza de las Letras. C/ Alameda, 15, 28014 Madrid :: Sessions: April, 3, May 24, and June 26, 2008 (to be continued in the Fall). Online registration deadline: March 26.

The meetings will focus on conceptual discussions and project presentations and, as far as possible, on the development of prototypes and tools.

Schedule: A monthly session will be held on the following Thursdays from 4:30 to 9 pm.

Core subjects:

• Light and the city. Urbanism, media-façades, the fusion of physical and digital urban spaces.
• Augmented Reality, the use of projections on three-dimensional surfaces and physical objects, the use of light as a material.
• Set and stage design and the creation of atmospheres through the projection of light: perspective, optical illusions, etc.
• Investigation of the qualities of our visual perception and its limits.

For:

-architects and urban planners interested in the use of light in public spaces
-visual artists
-set and stage designers
-programmers (applications in real time, generative and visualization systems…)
-physicists and specialists in optics
-sociologists, anthropologists
-psychologists, neurophysiologists
-other interested persons

Participants will be chosen according to the following criteria:
-Personal interest, artistic and/or research experience in the aforementioned areas

(more sessions will be scheduled for Fall)

Context:

The sun’s shadow is the earliest type of projection known to us, and Egyptian and Greek sun dials are the origin of controlled projection. With the advent of artificial light sources, controlled projections were developed, such as shadow plays and magician’s illusionary techniques. In recent history, controlled artificial light sources and their use in photography, the cinema, and moving pictures have multiplied new projection possibilities. These include the use of light as a material to the projection of moving images on a variety of surfaces: buildings used as screens, research in physics on the qualities of light or ways of altering visual perception through controlling light.