Going Dark 2024

Going Dark is an international workshop, created by  Traverso-Vighy and Light Collective in the heart of Tuscany. 

Monteriggioni is a medieval castle town along the Via Francigena pilgrim track connecting Canterbury to Rome and 3km further along the rural track is the monastery village of Abbadia a Isola. The main objective of the workshop encompasses a living lab scenario where participants can work together on site to create concepts to share with the local municipality that demonstrate a responsible approach to lighting.

Report by Randy Reid

Edited from "My first workshop” by Jean-Yves Soetinck:

Lessons I learned from my first workshop #GoingDark. (Surprisingly, after 28 years of practice, it was my first time as a participant in this 48-hour format).

1. For me, "lighting is sculpting shadow", but during this workshop, we worked more with "impressionist touches" of light.
2. In the context of a space protected from other lights, the operating levels of the devices have been drastically reduced, some devices have been downgraded up to 5% of their nominal power. And even if we know, we are still surprised by the low levels of lighting required.
3. More than ever in this context, we must restore the eye to its nocturnal acuity, if we are not nyctalopic, the eye still allows us to go very low in the levels, provided that we are not accidentally dazzled, even if only by a smartphone screen that is too bright for example.
4. That there is no "one light fit all" but a questioning at each point put in place (Rolan manifesto rules), so "exit the systematism of implementation" which follows the rhythm of the architecture, to make way for a more spatial layout, taking into account points of view.
5. On these very low lighting levels, the "Control System" (control) is imperative. (here it was Casambi).