Lighting designer Kaoru Mende (center, white shirt) of Lighting Planners Associates leads a Lighting Detective workshop.
Courtesy Lighting Detectives Lighting designer Kaoru Mende (center, white shirt) of Lighting Planners Associates leads a Lighting Detective workshop.

The Lighting Detectives, “…a non-profit group dedicated to the study, observation, and discussion of lighting culture…” is celebrating its 27th year. Started in 1990, the group expanded its activities to a global scale in 1999. In 2002, it held its first Transnational Lighting Detectives Forum in Tokyo. Since then the forum/workshop has taken place New York, Beijing, Stockholm, Singapore, Madrid, and Taipei.

Participants view a lighting installation during a Lighting Detectives workshop.
Courtesy Lighting Detectives Participants view a lighting installation during a Lighting Detectives workshop.

The forum/workshop will once again return to Japan this June 8 – 10, when the event will take place in Kyoto. Local residents, students, and an international lineup of lighting designers and artists will discuss the “Kyoto-style of light” with participants conducting neighborhood lighting studies and design proposals, followed by testing designs in an activity called Light up Ninja!

For full details about this year’s program visit the Lighting Detectives website or contact Noriko Higashi / Yuri Araki at Tel: 03 5469 1022; Fax: 03 5469 1023; or email: [email protected].

The Lighting Detective Forum in Taipei in 2013.
Courtesy Lighting Detectives The Lighting Detective Forum in Taipei in 2013.