Help me find a good lighting solution for my studio/exhibition space

July 10, 2007 9:23 PM

I need help with lighting solutions for a exhibition space/studio.

Hello! I've asked for help with this project before and have had lots of good suggestions so I thought I'd try again for some more specific help. I'm getting close to the first show I am having at my new exhibition space in the front room of my apartment. I use it for a studio the rest of the time. Here are some photos of the space to give you a better idea. The problem is the lighting. I've talked to the landlord and he is ok with me wiring some sort of new lighting in the room but doesn't want anything put into the Tin Ceiling. I'm not very experienced with electricity so I would prefer some solutions which would allow me to avoid wiring anything althought the landlord seems to be very knowledgable and has offered to help. He actually suggested a wire lighting system like this one offered from IKEA.
The idea would be to have the wire going from one end of the room to the top of the partition, I have an outlet in the bedroom area that I could plug them into. Has anyone used lights like these? Do you know how many lights can be added onto one wire? How bright are they etc.? The brighter the better! Any other places to get something like this? Any other suggestions altogether? I am completely open to any ideas. I am on a money and time budget but want it done right so am willing to sacrifice either for a better solution. Thanks for all your help! The space is called !

posted by austinlee to home & garden (7 comments total)

Brighter isn't the only concern, light color a big factor, too.
posted by doctor_negative at 10:45 PM on July 10, 2007

People on AskMe often confuse light's colour appearance with its colour rendering properties, and while the two are connected they are distinct.

Judging by the picture you get some really good daylight into the room.

The family name for the type of product you're looking it (like the IKEA one you link to) is a track lighting system. This might help you in your research.

If you're going to use the exhibition space a lot you might want to consider a more commercial/industrial grade of lighting. You'll get better performance data with which to inform your choices, and you'll get better quality fittings that last longer.

Lamp choice - you're probably on the right lines with tungsten halogen - if you display anything larger - particularly large paintings or sculptures you might consider a metal halide light source, which has a very white appearance but generally very good colour rendering.

The number of fittings you can install on a track depends on the lamp power rating selection. Again an advantage of going to a more commercial/industrial grade manufacturer is that they'll be able to advise you on this. Hell, they'll probably design a system for you. One issue that tends to plague track systems is volt drop, if I recall, so it's not a simple case of maxing out your cable and circuit breaker current capacity: you'll probably find the number of fittings you can run off a single circuit is reduced beyond this. Whether you want mains voltage or low voltage is another consideration.

Track mounting height and beam angle are other things you want to consider. Mounting the track higher will basically demand more powerful lights for the same performance, but a narrow beam angle can focus the display lighting where you want it. Smaller pieces will suit narrower beam angles. Being able to adjust this on the fitting would probably be a useful feature to you.

Zumtobel, Concord Marlin and iGuzzini (I've tried to link to the salient sections) are the sort of high-end manufacturers that eat up display lighting tasks. They'll be quite a bit more expensive than going to IKEA, but you mind find it's well worth it.
posted by nthdegx at 11:43 PM on July 10, 2007

From your link for the IKEA wire lighting system:

"...To be completed with NORRSKEN low-voltage wire; use min. 4 or max. 10 spotlights.
care instructions
Halogen bulb GU5.3 12V 20W reflector..."

Each lamp is a 20 watt halogen fixture of it's own. You need to run 4 of them, for a minimum of 80 watts, and can have a maximum of 10, for a total of 200 watts. So your total illumination from these fixtures will be from about what a single low wattage incandescent light (75 watts) puts out (about 1200 lumens), to something like a single large 200 watt bulb delivers (around 3900 lumens).

But these are not general illumination devices, from what I gather. Rather, they are "accent lighting." And they are hot, with little provision for focusing and pattern control. For small pieces, like 8" x 10" photographs, they might deliver enough light to suit the purpose as spotlights, if the heat doesn't damage the art work.

But, you'd be a lot better off just constructing a simple lighting bridge (or bridges, or a continuous L-shaped bridge) off the partition and wall, and using small theatrical fixtures that you can gel and shutter, like small Source Four PAR cans. Recruit a lighting designer to your exhibit team, and spend some money on small, used fixtures, mounts and controls. You'll be glad you did, just for the light control and exhibit flexibility you'll achieve.
posted by paulsc at 11:49 PM on July 10, 2007

Incandescent light sources get much more efficient as they get hotter, so comparing light output from a 200W source with that of 10 20W sources. That and correlating Wattage with lumen output is a risky business, not to mention that it no way takes account for the light out put ratio of the fitting itself.

These spotlights are tungsten halogen so they get hotter and are more efficient. If you look at a list of typical lumen outputs for low voltage halogen downlights you'll see that *one* lamp can eat a normal light bulb for breakfast, let alone 10. One 20W halogen source there outputs over 3,000 lumens.
posted by nthdegx at 2:44 AM on July 11, 2007

"so comparing light output from a 200W source with that of 10 20W sources" ... isn't a good idea, I meant to say.
posted by nthdegx at 2:45 AM on July 11, 2007

Is there anything like this that could handle more lights per wire and provide the kind of light I'll need? link
posted by austinlee at 4:56 AM on July 11, 2007

"One 20W halogen source there outputs over 3,000 lumens."

:-) Actually, it shines with a flux of 3150 lumens, because it only shines through a 10 degree beam angle. Even a 50W halogen source only generates 1450 lumens, at a 36 degree beam angle, which wouldn't even be much a of a wall wash, on a large piece. And the only reason the flux ratings are that high is because of the beam angle restriction.

"The unit of luminous flux in the International System, equal to the amount of light given out through a solid angle by a source of one candela intensity radiating equally in all directions."[emphasis added]

It is a little tricky to compare lumen ratings that have been dickered for beam angle, but overall light availability for the comparison I made isn't off by nearly as much as you think, nthdegx. Here's a page that addresses other halogen myths.

"Is there anything like this that could handle more lights per wire and provide the kind of light I'll need?"

The tricky part of that question, obviously, is "provide the kind of light I'll need?" Are small, bright spots of light, of nearly equal intensity, the only kind of light you'll need? I would think that if you're lighting a piece that has 9 times the surface area of a smaller piece hanging next to it, that you might need something like 9 times the amount of light, spread out evenly over the larger area, for the larger piece not to look like it is badly lit. Will you always need white light, or will you sometimes want to gel for color effect? Will you always want single point flat lighting, or will you sometimes need multi-point, multi-direction lighting to control, or create, shadow effects for emphasizing texture and form?

A good lighting system gives you choices of fixtures, lenses, throw lengths, shuttering, gels, and individual fixture intensity, so that you can get the light right on the work displayed, rather than make the lighting system easy. Wire halogen lighting systems can do a little of this, by bulb change, but the fixed position of the energizing wires, and the fact that all fixtures are "ganged" on the same source supply really limits the capability of such systems, compared to individual PAR fixtures, each on its own controller or lighting board channel. You may not even need a full featured lighting board, with the right array of fixtures, and indivdual dimmers, which could be mounted as a simple gang of normal wall switch dimmers. But I think you'll quickly find that such lighting is far more effective, adjustable, and flexible, than the best wire lighting systems. And if you can find source for used equipment (pretty common in NYC), your lighting dollars can go pretty far.
posted by paulsc at 9:57 AM on July 11, 2007 [1 favorite]