Paris, Bergamo and Madrid were the three cities lighting designer Luc Lafortune visited during his recent cycle of conferences. His Art and Poetry in Stage Lighting events were highly successful among professionals and amateurs alike. Luc Lafortune is considered one of the most creative and innovative lighting designers in the world of show business. His name is inextricably linked to the Cirque du Soleil, whose image he has helped to create since 1984.
The conferences were centred around two of the Cirque du Soleil's most successful shows: K and O. Lafortune got right down to the roots of the creative process through thorough artistic and philological analysis. He explored the contents of each show and the message every scene was intended to conjure up, before moving on to the search for inspiring graphic effects and colours which leads as a conclusion to the choice of technical tools for lighting the shows.
The Paris Conference was held at the Grande Halle de la Villette on 5 February during the most important lighting trade show in France. The conference was organized by the SIEL trade fair and sponsored by the specialist journal Sono magazine and Clay Paky. It sold out with over 150 people present. Lafortune was able to express himself in French since he is a Canadian from Quebec. During the later conferences, in Italy and Spain, the audience was provided with simultaneous translation through headphones for the whole event.
The Bergamo conference on 11 February was organized by Clay Paky at the new Bergamo Fair Conference Centre. Besides receiving support from local institutions (Promoberg and the Bergamo Chamber of Commerce), the conference was also sponsored by industry-related organizations such as AILD, APIAS, the Istituto Europeo del Design and the Indaco Department of the Politecnico di Milano. Over 200 people attended the conference, despite the difficulties caused by snow on the day of the event.
The last conference took place two days later in Madrid. Over 250 people turned up in the splendid location of the Matadero, a former slaughterhouse which has now become one of the main centres of culture and contemporary art in the whole of Spain. The event was organized by Stonex Show Lighting, an important Spanish company that has offered technical solutions for the entertainment industry since 1980.
Pio Nahum, Clay Paky sales and marketing manager, comments, "Organizing this cycle of conferences was challenging, but the success of this initiative has rewarded all our efforts. It is clear that those who love the world of entertainment are interested and glad to be told about the artistic approach that lies behind each production, even unconventional ones. Luc's great expressive simplicity struck everyone.
"He is a true artist who loves to share his experience, and he does so by accepting to meet with other professionals from the world of lighting. The audience was fascinated by his personality and his creations. I have rarely seen such a long conference, where everyone was glued to their chairs from start to finish."
