Licht

Lighting artist Mikki Kunttu is renowned for his strong contrasts. His world of illumination appears to spring from the natural environment of Finland: there are the heavy, dark shades of winter, as in his designs for Jorma Uotinen’s piece “Jord” (“Earth”) at the Royal Theatre of Copenhagen, and there are the dazzlingly bright lights of an awakening summer’s morning, as created for Tero Saarinen’s choreography “Transfigured Night” at the Opera of Gothenburg.

The central elements of Kunttu’s design are all featured in Tero Saarinen’s “Borrowed Light,” one of Kunttu’s most powerful works of illumination. In this piece, the dramaturgy of light builds up by means of lighting architecture to construct a spiritual temple. The elevation in the finale with its folk-like cantatas is a tribute to the work and simple way of life of the Shakers, a spiritual cult that flourished in the Boston area of the US in the 1800s. The lighting for “Borrowed Light” reflects Saarinen’s vision of a dance group as a similarly disciplined, work-oriented community.
“Lighting design must have an organic connection with the choreography and the music; the light alone doesn’t carry the piece very far. Though I ...