EKI: a universe of light
di Gaia Altucci
Eki is a biannual art magazine, published in English and Italian, dedicated to those who love, study, or simply observe light. The magazine hosts male and female artists and experts from all over the world, and its purpose is to create a space to share and compare multiple ways of approaching light through different creative ideas and techniques. Each issue deals with a specific topic expressed through a form of light: Eki 00, Eki 01 Night Light, Eki 02 Sun Light, Eki 03 Light in Digital, Eki 04 Spiritual Light, while the next issue, Eki 05 will be dedicated to erotic light.
What experience inspired the idea of the Eki magazine project?
The three of us, Camilla Cattabriga, Claudia Sicuranza and Eleonora Contessi, met while we were all studying direction of photography at the Experimental Center of Cinematography in Rome, and when we had completed our course, we set up Eki in 2020. Our magazine was born from the desire to carry out in-depth analysis on the fundamental element of our work: light. We all share a deep love for paper, so we made this exciting leap into the world of publishing, which, for us, was totally unknown. It is an experience that continues to bring us new surprises and constant pleasure: through EKI we continually discover new ways of conceiving and working with light.
A dop – director of photography – works very closely in interaction with technology. What is your view on how would you describe your relationship with technology?
Through the pages of Eki we focus a lot of attention on understanding the emotional impulse that drives an artist or a photographic director to carry out some specific exploration, to construct and discover their own personal artistic vision. For example, in order to achieve the image they have previously visualised, DOPs, or photographic directors must be familiar with all the technical instruments that are available, and must be constantly up to date with the latest developments in technology. Light offers endless emotional and narrative possibilities, and to make the most of these opportunities, DOPs must have excellent technical knowledge to be completely free to enjoy and use this insight so that their personal sensitivity is revealed.
Among those you have featured in Eki, which projects and artists have made a particular impression for the way they interact and make use of technology?
Claudia Sicuranza: Personally I was very impressed when I had the pleasure of interviewing Nick Verstand, featured in the issue: Eki 03 Light in digital. Nick is a contemporary Dutch artist who explores human perception through audiovisual spatial compositions. His passion for light and music began when he was working as a DJ and organising underground electronic music events and part of his art is formed through a combination of these fascinating aspects: he deconstructs the aesthetics of the environment of a club to create an artistic installation or an audiovisual performance. I was greatly struck by the technological system behind his audiovisual AURA installation in 2017: A system able to determine our emotional feelings in real time using various biosensors (brain waves, heart rates, and galvanic skin responses) combined with software. This all infuses life in a structure that analyses the emotional reaction to the music, and in real time, converts it into a cone of light that surrounds the participants.
Camilla Cattabriga: In Eki 03, featuring the topic of digital light, the artist I found most interesting was Huan Tran, the cinematic lighting artist of Naughty Dog, one of the most successful creators of video games in the world. As a film photographic director, I was truly fascinated to discover how the role of light can be changed in video games, especially pre-rendered computer graphic animation, or in CGI; and can intersect with other professions, all interconnected through vast technical and informatics expertise. In fact, as Huan commented, it is precisely for this reason that the results obtained in this environment are very closely connected with the evolution of the technology itself. It is amazing to discover the care and research that goes into making blades of grass move in the wind so realistically; or “the way droplets of spit fly out of the mouth of an angry character”.
Eleonora Contessi: I don’t consider myself someone who is very attracted to technological evolution, so I am very grateful to Eki issue 03 because it taught me a lot I didn’t know. I still remember how astounded I was when I read the interview with Danielle Feinberg, the Pixar photographic and animation director and VFX supervisor. In particular, Danielle described the technical challenge she faced while creating the world of The Land of the Dead in the movie,”Coco” (2017). The initial scene of this setting contained 8,5 million lights, far more than any number used previously. The complexity was caused by the need to light up various elements such as bridges, buildings, gondolas, and other structures with a large number of light sources. Thanks to technological innovation and the collaboration from brilliant lighting technicians, it was possible to obtain an extraordinary and immersive visual result making the scene realistic and fascinating. While I was reading, I was laughing to myself thinking how impossible it would be, as a film photographic director, to position millions of lights in a film scene…
What are the most significant technological frontiers you have had to confront?. Could you share some stories or discoveries with us?
Claudia Sicuranza: Recently I had to shoot some film using a Led wall as a backdrop. It was the first time I had attempted something like this. It was a lot of fun, you are immediately projected into another dimension, but to control it properly, you must keep in mind a range of different aspects like optics, photography, colour science… For example it is very important to calculate the optimal visual distance, in other words, the distance that allows you to obtain a uniform reproduction without distinguishing single pixels.
Distance, along with the choosing of a proper angle of vision, also helps eliminate the moiré effect (the optical effect of an unwanted perceived motive when several fine grids overlap to form a kind of optical wave illusion). It is also important to take care with lighting to provide three dimensional effects and depth, but making sure not to contaminate the black tones with light that could rebound on the screens.
Camilla Cattabriga: : In our job, technological innovations are constantly developing, new more sophisticated movie cameras, like the lighting to illuminate the sets. New Led lights, like Skypanel X23 that I just used recently, help us approach the set in a much more comfortable way, obtaining excellent results from the viewpoint of light quality and colour rendering. Years ago, we had to climb up a ladder to change temperature colour or light intensity, today it is far easier, since we can make any variations simply using a control.
Eleonora Contessi: In our work as Photography directors, access to new technologies is closely connected with the budget our department is assigned by production. For this reason, it is not always easy to use new technology as soon as it appears on the market. This makes our work more challenging because we do not always have the same possibilities to experiment with technology, but it does make certain effects more dynamic.
In recent years I have been able to shoot several times using a Large Format ARRI movie camera launched in 2018. It is equipped with a sensor slightly larger than a full frame, ALEXA LF records in 4K native content with a superior image quality. Skin tones are rendered in a vibrant but delicate way, while landscapes can be captured in the smallest detail. These characteristics have provided projects with immersive and three-dimensional images that, from a question of perception, draw the spectator emotionally much closer.
