Exhibition design and lighting: notes on the genesis of the debate between conservation, public emotion, and care

Abstract

In 1969, a group of museum professionals from the United States de­cided to found the International Association of Lighting Designer (IALD), marking both the emergence of a new profession and the rising impor­tance given to the topic of light inside exhibition spaces. If the complex re­lationship between the preventive conservation of exhibited artworks and the visual comfort of the public is at the origin of the first considerations of light as an essential tool for museums, today’s light designers’ projects shed new light on the topic by offering new horizons - such as the importance of environmental care- and by improving the design, technologies, and knowledge behind the art of illuminating museums. As such, this article tries to retrace the evolution of the reflection toward museum illumination by highlighting its constant relationship with our different perspectives of “care”.