6 minute read
The Smithsonian American Art Museum's Light Curator Shares His Secrets
By Randy Reid
The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) is one of the most prestigious art museums in the world, with a collection spanning from colonial portraits to contemporary installations. The museum is also a leader in using innovative and energyefficient lighting solutions to enhance the visitor experience and preserve the artwork. The museum’s lighting curator, Scott Rosenfeld, shared some of his secrets as a lighting expert for SAAM.
Rosenfeld has been working in museums for 30 years and has participated in several lighting transformations within the Smithsonian.
One of the most recent and significant of these was the renovation of the Lincoln Gallery, which displays dynamic and interactive artworks that use light, sound, and motion. The gallery was previously lit by an MR16 halogen system that had reached the end of its life. It no longer provided sufficient illumination for the works of art. Rosenfeld decided to upgrade to a state-of-the-art LED system.
To do so, he hired renowned architectural firm Selldorf Architects, who in turn hired Eileen Pierce of Pierce Lighting Studio as the consultative lighting designer. Drawing on his 30 years of experience, Scott did much of the lighting fixture work, with input from Pierce Lighting Studio on the concept design, proof of concept, calculations, modified specifications and mounting details for the (4) custom pendant configurations of the track layout and fixed focus fixtures.
"How do we create bright, even light with low glare?" Scott asked rhetorically, highlighting the central challenge of lighting the museum. Showing a photograph of the gallery, he explained, "You can observe that the lights aren't blinding or overwhelming. There's an abundance of light, but the sources are almost invisible to the viewer. This is achieved because our light sources are deeply baffled, employing both reset and cross-baffling methods. The uplighting we've integrated contributes significantly to the ambient lighting of the space."
The Lincoln Gallery is dynamic – the works of art change and interact with each other. Scott directed my attention to a painting, explaining, "If you turn to the artwork on your left, you'll notice that the neon plays a pivotal role in its illumination. The discontinuous spectrum emanating from the neon display on the opposite wall enhances the vibrancy and colorfulness of the artwork itself."
The gallery’s uplighting provides ambient light and enhances the spatial perception. The Lighting Services Inc (LSI) luminaires throughout have a high color rendering index of 90 and a color temperature of 3000K, which are suitable for displaying artworks with vibrant colors and contrasts. Pierce Lighting Studio's track layout allows for flexible and adjustable lighting for different artworks and exhibitions. Scott worked with Ken Kane of LSI to design the track heads, which involved selecting the internal optics and focusing the adjustable track fixtures.
The Lincoln Gallery lighting system was part of a much larger lighting renovation of the entire building, which involved replacing over 10,000 luminaires throughout the museum. Rosenfeld noted that these two projects dovetailed nicely – he was able to use some of the products that he had bought for the whole building in the Lincoln Gallery.
Rosenfeld also shared some of his insights and challenges as a lighting curator for SAAM. He has developed a unique vocabulary of light for working in museums, which is based on an old vocabulary of floodlights and spotlights. He uses different types of LEDs from a variety of manufacturers, such as Xicato or Bridgelux, depending on the application and the artwork. Using a combination of reflectors and lenses, he can focus the light anywhere between 10 and 60 degrees. He explained, “In 2015 and 2016, we did some upgrades to save energy, but we sacrificed quality. With this retrofit, I was so pleased that we were able to go from the energy hogs of incandescent to energy efficient lighting while dramatically increase the quality of light.”
On the subject of controls, Rosenfeld noted that they are important, but not as important as distribution. Distribution is about being able to put the light where you want it and take it away where you don’t. This requires a tremendous amount of skill and craftsmanship. What you see in his galleries is handcrafted light – every fixture is carefully adjusted and aimed to create the best possible effect.
Rosenfeld showed some examples of how he uses light to create contrast and harmony between different works in the same gallery. For instance, he showed a picture of a Basquiat painting next to a folk art painting, explaining how he used different angles and intensities of light to highlight their differences and similarities. He also showed a picture of a projection artwork that creates a ghostly effect on a red curtain, using bright light to define the edge of a bench where a visitor was sitting. Occasionally, the effects he creates with light are unintentional but welcome, such as making the visitor’s hand appear as another ghost in the projection.
Rosenfeld uses a Xicato Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) system for controlling the lighting. He chose Xicato because they had an open and documented API that was reasonably well built-out. Working with a hub-based system rather than a mesh-based system provided more flexibility and reliability. Using an iPad app to control the system, he can dim, switch, group, or schedule his lights remotely and quickly. The problem with mesh, he noted, is that it is like popcorn, with lights randomly turning on and off.
Paramount to his role as a lighting curator is respecting the artist’s vision and intention, while also taking into account the conservation needs and the visitor experience. It’s a delicate balance, requiring years of experience to perfect. Rosenfeld commented that he is always learning new things and facing new challenges as a lighting expert for SAAM.
One of the unique features of SAAM is that it mixes different types of artwork and artists, from the most renowned contemporary artists to those from folk and indigenous traditions. Rosenfeld does not differentiate between the provenance or the pedigree of the artist, but treats all art as art, no matter what. And, he uses his expertise to masterfully light every piece.
