A Lightbox for Art

9 788890 889721

KSU FLORENCE + ISI FLORENCE \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ A Lightbox for Art - FALL 2014 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

ISBN 978-88-908897-2-1

KSU + ISI

A Lightbox for Art FALL 2014

KENT STATE UNIVERSITY | FLORENCE PROGRAM \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ INTERNATIONAL STUDIES INSTITUTE FLORENCE \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Š 2015 KSU Florence Press. All rights reserved KSU Florence Press vicolo dei Cerchi 1 - 50122 Firenze, Italy info@ksuflorence.net Printed in Italy ISBN 978-88-908897-2-1

KSU KSU + FLORENCE ISI

A Lightbox for Art FALL 2014

A Lightbox for Art

Index Preface . 06 (Fabrizio Ricciardelli, Director, Kent State University Florence) (Stefano U. Baldassarri, Director, ISI Florence) A Collaborative Experience . 8 (Paola Giaconia, Architecture Professor, Kent State University, Florence) (Franco Pisani, Architecture Professor, ISI Florence, “Organized Light”) A Note from a Guest Lecturer . 14 (Fabio Capanni, Università di Firenze, “Where Light and Darkness Meet”) Students’ Projects. 16 Alberto Becherini, Stacy Griffing, Stephanie Molloy, Figlia di Niobe . 18 Andrew Bissell, Janelle Schmidt, Cassandra Zarrelli, Marte . 22 Phillip Blevins, Andrea Borghi, Carmine Farese, Amore e Psiche . 26 Margaret DeSantis, Michael Hoffman, Robert Miller, Medusa . 30 Steven Garrubba, Jessica Gilbert, Kylie Morris, Amorino o giovane Cupido . 34 Corrinne Greer, Gianni Monteleone, Steven Niele, Arianna addormentata . 38 Dana Grossjung, Taylor Unikewicz, Jessica Yorkovich, Venere de’ Medici . 42 Kristian Hager, Jaclyn Kirby, Mark Sherlock, Autoritratto . 46 Ian Kienbaum, Kathryn Tobey, Vincent Torchio, Discobolo . 50 Pamela Hernandez, Anna Serio, Martha Velazquez, Madonna con Bambino e Angeli . 54 Samantha Mabbitt, Roberto Maimone, Desiree Reichenbach, Adamo piange Abele . 58

.06

A Lightbox for Art

Preface

FABRIZIO RICCIARDELLI AND STEFANO U. BALDASSARRI

.07

From ancient times to the present day the dream of the ideal space has been at the center of discussion among philosophers and architects. Human reason is not supposed to fight against hostile natural forces because its mission is to coordinate them.

To pursue these objectives, in 2014 Fall Semester, Kent State University Florence Architecture Students, in partnership with Marywood University and University of Hartford students at ISI Florence, were asked by their Faculty to reflect on the many possible ways to understand and transform functionality. The study of the inside and outside, of colors and shapes, of darkness and light are at the center of the analysis of all the valuable works collected in this booklet.

Fabrizio Ricciardelli (Director, Kent State University Florence)

As is well known, language can serve both to reveal and to hide human thought. The same is true of architecture, the most imposing and tangible of all arts, whose products expose and hide at once. Light, too, shares this paradoxical quality. Without light, vision and colors are inconceivable; and yet, too much light can have blurring, confusing, even blinding effects.

Throughout history all cultures have created a myriad metaphors to highlight this fascinating, somewhat contradictory notion. During the 2014 Fall Semester, the architecture faculty at ISI Florence has urged its Marywood University and University of Hartford students to reflect on it in the course of a specific seminar, bringing together their Kent State University colleagues and peers. The subsequent works collected in the present booklet bear witness to this never-ending, suggestive, and often moving interplay between inside and outside, colors and shapes, darkness and light.

Stefano U. Baldassarri (Director , ISI Florence)

.08

A Lightbox for Art

A Collaborative Experience

11 TEAMS, 4 DAYS AND AN ART PIECE

PAOLA GIACONIA, ARCHITECTURE PROFESSOR, KENT STATE UNIVERSITY, FLORENCE

.09

As architects, we are well aware of the current approaches to museography and exhibition design, that challenge a reconfiguration of the relationship between the visitor, the art piece and the museum.

While the 4-day collaborative design workshop Franco Pisani and I organized for our students had no profound museological pretense, at the same it challenged students to engage -though briefly- in the study of issues, ideas and practical problems in the field of lighting design for exhibition purposes.

A series of lectures further supported the students in their investigations.

Giovanna Giusti, Head of the Documentation office and catalogue of the Gallery at the Polo Museale Fiorentino, introduced us to the priceless masterpieces the Uffizi Gallery collects, from Giotto, Botticelli and Leonardo to Michelangelo, Raffaello and Caravaggio; from Roman and Greek statues to Renaissance masterpieces.

Antonio Godoli, Head of the Department of Museum Architecture at the Polo Museale Fiorentino, explained the challenges the Uffizi face today, with its ambitious program of renovation; and he offered us a special visit

to the museum, that he opened for us only on a very private visit of its less tourist-traveled paths.

Fabio Capanni, Professor in Architectural Design at the UniversitĂ di Firenze, School of Architecture, presented us the works of his students who, for an entire semester, designed a sacred space using light as “an integral part of architectureâ€?, as renowned lighting designer Richard Kelly believed.

Nicola Santini, principal and co-founder of Avatar Architettura, explained some of the challenges his office faced when asked to conceive the museographic and exhibition design of the recently-inaugurated Museo Novecento in Florence.

.10

.11

Students from Kent State University, Marywood University, University of Hartford, and the Università di Firenze took part in an intensive design charrette. Their task was to pick an art piece - be it a painting or a sculpture - from the immense Uffizi Gallery’s collection and conceive the best possible way to exhibit it inside a small pavillion (3 meters by 4 meters by 5 meters), taking advantage of natural light.

Each team was asked to root the design around the art piece: they analyzed it, its meaning as well its aesthetic characteristics

of materiality, geometry, composition. A series of drawings and modeling exercises culminated in their design strategy to best exhibit the art piece, taking advantage of natural lighting conditions.

The students’ focused and sustained effort was celebrated in a public presentation of their proposals and in this small publication.

.12

A Lightbox for Art

ORGANIZED LIGHT

FRANCO PISANI, ARCHITECTURE PROFESSOR, ISI

.13

1997. Late September. I don’t remember exactly the day, Wednesday or Thursday.

What I remember clearly is that I was walking on Via degli Alfani after one of the last desk crits of my thesis project. The discussion with professor Leoncilli Massi that afternoon was all about the necessity of adding cast shadows in section drawings. Characters like Louis Khan, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, John Soane were invoked often because, as he would say, “Architectural space is organized light.”

While walking home, these few words echoed in my foggy brain like a mysterious mantra; I was pretty familiar with Kahn’s writings about light, but evidently I had not totally digested them. I was as intrigued by them as one could be in front of a powerful formula whose purpose is unfathomable but in whose utterance one can divine an immortal truth.

Simple and intuitive: space is revealed by light. Without light, space is just a plain and dry geometrical concept. Organizing light?

What did it mean exactly? What was Leoncilli trying to tell me? How was one to take advantage of that suggestion? What happens when you try to apply that concept to a design? This was the most difficult part.

Light for an architect is a construction material; more importantly, a material whose cost doesn’t affect budget. Light is what

really distinguishes mere building from architecture. It is not decoration, a special effect, or a mere final touch. Rather, it is part of the substance of architecture. Today we can turn on or off lights inside a virtual model like an optional feature but we are losing our control of light as a designing tool.

In this workshop, we asked students to organize a little space around a piece of art using only light. Four days of work around a cardboard model, with glue, knives, and a lamp to control gestures and to modulate shapes.

The American psychiatrist William Glasser said that we learn 95% of what we teach to others. Each time I see students excited by discovering with some pieces of cardboard and a knife how light can be brought inside a box, transforming its interior space, celebrating its surfaces and articulating its corners, those words, “architectural space is organized light,” become less mysterious and my brain a little less foggy.

.14

A Lightbox for Art

A Note from a Guest Lecturer WHERE LIGHT AND DARKNESS MEET

FABIO CAPANNI, PROFESSOR OF ARCHITECTURE, UNIVERSITÀ DI FIRENZE

.15

I used to start from geometrical figures, from certain measures, then I start to model the mass through compressions and expansions of space; I try to make the space vibrate under the action of light.

For me, the abstract nature of the rule (geometry) and the variability of the natural element (light) represent the eternal desire of opposites to come together once again, thus highlighting the complexity of the real world in which we live.

I employ light as an element that generates space of both the internal and the external variety, and I employ light as a favoured means with which to deform the certainty of geometrical rules, bringing surfaces to life and shaping architectural space.

Beyond technical-structural questions, formal prejudices and linguistic indulgences, I’m looking for a dimension where space and light finally come together to create an absolute form of architecture immersed in the alienating silence of still time, whichbereft of any linear extension- superimposes past and present to give one single dimension.

Definitely, I’m looking for a dimension where light and darkness meet, because there, I believe, lies the very beginning and end of architecture itself.

Where does light begin?

Where do shadows end?

Light creates space: establishing the border between defined and undefined.

Light is a building material: threedimensional substance.

Light opens passages, makes connections between inside and outside.

Light separates what is above from what is below, earth from a prospective heaven.

Light reveals the endless possibilities of space and matter.

Light reveals the essence: a world beyond matter.

So, in the end, where does light begin? Where does shadow end?

The uncertainty of the balance between these two elements, suggest the possibility of being, in which I try to design architecture.

.16

Students’ Projects

.18

Figlia di Niobe piegata dal terrore, cosiddetta Psiche Bottega Romana Marmo Pentelico Secc.I/II Inv. Sculture 1881 n. 297

ALBERTO BECHERINI, Università di Firenze STACY GRIFFING, Marywood University, ISI Florence STEPHANIE MOLLOY, Marywood University, ISI Florence We chose a sculpture as the focal point of our design rather than a painting because we wanted the viewer to be able to have a 3 dimensional experience of the artwork. You enter the room on a slant and the floor has a slit to lead you through the space. Light is carefully distributed into specific areas of the space to draw you into the main area. The sculpture ‘Figlia di Niobe’ is hidden beyond the turn. When you turn the corner the piece is exposed in full light. This specific sculpture was chosen because the subject appears to be searching for the light. We designed a funnel to distribute the light onto her palm and create the sense that she is reaching for the light or the way out.

.22

Marte del tipo Ares Borghese Bottega Romana Marmo Nero Venato Sec.I Inv.Sculture 1881 n.192

ANDREW BISSELL, University of Hartford, ISI Florence JANELLE SCHMIDT, Kent State University CASSANDRA ZARRELLI, Marywood University, ISI Florence The sword receives an effect from the box because it no longer exists on the statue.

The shield is the most embellished part of the statue, so it works to interrupt the sword’s light.

The warrior is caught in the middle of the battle between his offense and defense.

He receives whatever light is reflected by them onto him.

.26

Amore e Psiche Bottega Romana Marmo Lunense Sec.II Inv.Sculture 1881 n.339

PHILLIP BLEVINS, Marywood University, ISI Florence ANDREA BORGHI, Università di Firenze CARMINE FARESE, University of Hartford, ISI Florence “Amore e Psiche” is a sculture showing the relationship between the god Eros and a young girl, as narrated in “The Metamorphoses” by Apuleius. It is this duality between divine and human in the two figures that inspired and modeled the design for the expositional space.

The light box is composed of two environments, a dark area at the entrance with only a weak light entering from the next room serving to indicate the path of the vistor, and a more illuminated area where light interacts directly with the space, the walls, and the sculpture, creating a direct, visual relationship with the artwork, emphasizing the duality of the subject, with the divine face illuminated and the human partially shaded. Divine and hunan, light and darkness, space and embrace.

.30

Medusa Michelangelo Merisi detto il Caravaggio Olio su Tela 1570/1610 Inv. 1890 n.1351

MARGARET DESANTIS, Marywood University, ISI Florence MICHAEL HOFFMAN, Kent State University ROBERT MILLER, Marywood University, ISI Florence Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio, famous for realism and the use of the “chiaroscuro technique”, painted The Medusa in 1597, capturing the horrified expression of Medusa at the moment of her decapitation. Our light box imitates the concepts behind Caravaggio’s work as well as the Greek myth itself. The light box is constructed upon the idea that the artwork is only visible with light coming from one specific direction. The box as a whole is in darkness, with light seeping in from behind The Medusa, and from the indirect flow of light highlighting the bottom sides

.34

Amorino o giovane Cupido Bottega romana da un originale del III secolo a.C Marmo bianco Secc. I-II Inv. Sculture 1881 n. 297

STEVEN GARRUBBA, Marywood University, ISI Florence JESSICA GILBERT, Kent State University KYLIE MORRIS, Marywood University, ISI Florence In this exhibition space, we intended to diffuse light to create a forced perspective to direct the vision of the visitors towards the sculpture/vantage point. The diffused light is coming from the natural lighting behind the space. The direct light is coming from a spotlight on the ceiling, angled towards the sculpture to highlight it. We intended for the sculpture to be surrounded by shadows so that the spotlight would provide controlled light; creating a high contrast. The intention was to creat a harmony with the different sources of light.

.38

Arianna addormentata Bottega Romana Marmo Sec. III a.C. Sala 35

CORRINNE GREER, Kent State University GIANNI MONTELEONE, Marywood University, ISI Florence STEVEN NIELE, University of Hartford, ISI Florence The sculpture is “Sleeping Ariadne” who was abandoned by her husband after helping him through numerous trials. He abandons her as she sleeps, before she is awoken by Dionysus who weds her instead.

The strip of light visible from the entrance creates a directionality that follows the surface of the wall, changing with the movement of the sun during the day.

The light tangent to her head illuminates her face in contrast to the darkness at her feet, a contrast to emphasize her unbalanced situation in the legend. The light is extremely dramatic, to convey pain and turmoil, but it emphasizes the hope on her face that will be realized when she becomes Dionysus’ bride.

.42

Venere de’ Medici Cleomene di Apollodoro Marmo Greco Sec. I a.C. Inv. Sculture 1881 n. 224

DANA GROSSJUNG, Marywood University, ISI Florence TAYLOR UNIKEWICZ, University of Hartford, ISI Florence JESSICA YORKOVICH, Marywood University, ISI Florence “Venere de’ Medici”, a sculpture housed in the Uffizi Gallery, depicts a surprised Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, emerging from the sea with a dolphin at her feet.

The visitor would feel as though he/she was a part of this story when entering the new gallery space. At first, traveling through a dark corridor, then turning the corner into a slightly brighter corridor where the sculpture suddenly starts to appear from behind the wall. These angled barrier walls in plan represent the positioning of her arms in the sculpture. When reaching the room at the end of the corridors Venus de’ Medici is lit up and shining bright, just as she would when finally emerging from the sea into the bright sunshine.

.46

Autoritratto Godfried Schalcken Olio su Tela 1695 Inv. 1890, 1878

KRISTIAN HAGER, Kent State University JACLYN KIRBY, Marywood University, ISI Florence MARK SHERLOCK, Marywood University, ISI Florence The concept for the exhibit came from the painting itself. A single light source, a candle, illuminates the figure while the rest fades to black. This is a common theme throughout many of Schalcken’s works. The artificial light source above the painting in the new design gives a more dramatic feel to the art than the original exhibit space had done.

The artwork, like a candle flame, appears to be floating in darkness. Viewers can enter the space and walk around all sides of painting. The walls are angled away from the entrance to minimize the exposure to light, and the light source has been diffused through a bent tunnel to create a dimmer glow onto the painting. The space has been erased and all that remains is the focal point, the Autoritratto.

S2

S1

FLOOR PLAN 1:50

SOUTH ELEVATION 1:50

SECTION 1 1:50

SECTION 2 1:50

.50

Discobolo con testa di Alessandro Magno Copia di bottega romana da Mirone Marmo sec.I-II Inv. Sculture n.212

IAN KIENBAUM, Kent State University KATHRYN TOBEY, Marywood University, ISI Florence VINCENT TORCHIO, Marywood University, ISI Florence Our team aimed to create an exhibition space using a fundamentally simple design. Considering the dramatic yet graceful form of our chosen sculpture, the Discobolo, our intent was to make this piece the focal point of the space. With a single light source and careful orientation of interior walls, a direct beam of light illuminates the statue. Due to this dramatic effect and the form of the sculpture, a sense of emotional interaction is created between the lighting and the artwork. In this way, a harmonious relationship between material and immaterial is formed.

.54

Madonna con Ges첫 Bambino e Angeli Filippo Lippi Tempera su Tavola Sec.XV 1440-1465 Inv. N.1598

PAMELA HERNANDEZ, Marywood University, ISI Florence ANNA SERIO, Kent State University MARTHA VELAZQUEZ, Marywood University, ISI Florence The purpose of our design was to highlight the lighting strategies in the painting as well as to indicate a directionality going towards it. The window in the opposite corner shines directly onto the painting, which illuminates the already bright colors. The triangles in the opposite corner from the window are the abstractions of the mountains in the background of the painting. They serve a primary purpose of directing those entering the exhibit towards the work of art that the window highlights.

.58

Adamo piange Abele morto Johann Carl Loth Olio su Tela 1680 Inv. 1890, n.731

SAMANTHA MABBITT, Kent State University ROBERTO MAIMONE, University of Hartford, ISI Florence DESIREE REICHENBACH, Marywood University, ISI Florence The design uses three obscure openings to create dramatic natural lighting effects that work in unison as a reflection on the martyrized Abel and his soul’s quest for the destruction of his murder’s legacy.

Three lighting effects guide the viewer: the first being Abel’s metaphoric attack upon entry, the second being the diffused embodiment of light upon Abel’s body, and the third being a sliver of direct light leading the viewer towards the exit. An additional consequence is a reflective light that projects from the painting onto the path, allowing for the viewer to stand in a humble glow.

Acknowledgements We would like to thank Neil Rawson for assisting the students in the course of the 4-day charette and for providing insightful suggestions for improving their designs; and Robert Kane for help in the layout of this publication.

9 788890 889721

KSU FLORENCE + ISI FLORENCE \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ A Lightbox for Art - FALL 2014 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

ISBN 978-88-908897-2-1

KSU + ISI

A Lightbox for Art FALL 2014

KENT STATE UNIVERSITY | FLORENCE PROGRAM \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ INTERNATIONAL STUDIES INSTITUTE FLORENCE \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\