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Origins and Development
Located in Guangzhou at Golden Sea’s headquarters, “The International Lighting Museum” was established following Golden Sea’s appointment by the Ministry of National Culture as a “National Cultural Industry Demonstration Base“. The museum enhances Golden Sea’s demonstration base, promotes the history and the future of the professional stage lighting industry and its culture. The museum is the first of its kind to chart the development of Western and Chinese stage lighting and was originally established as the “Power of Light Museum” by DANOR THEATER AND STUDIO and Mr. Dan Redler, in Israel. Planning to move the exhibits from Israel to China and establish this new museum began in 2013 and Golden Sea officially opened “The International Lighting Museum” in March, 2016. Alongside the original collection, the museum now includes a Chinese hall as well as the International one.The collection boasts over 500 articles which reveal the development over the last 500 years of the use of lighting in theatre in both Western and Chinese culture.
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Founder and Honorary Curators
Dan Redler, a famous Israeli stage lighting designer and author of the book “Stage Lighting” created this collection, in Israel, and it was called“The Power of Light Museum”. His vision was to create a museum for theatre professionals, visual artists, art and theatre students, and the lighting community at large. In 2016, it was relocated to China by the president of Golden Sea and was immediately expanded to include oriental exhibits relating to professional stage lighting in China. With this relocation and expansionthe museum is now named “The International Lighting Museum”. In February 2017, the president of China Stage Art Association, Lin Cao and the former president of OISTAT and a professor at Stanford University, in the USA, Mr. Michael Ramsaur were officially appointed honorary curators of “The International Lighting Museum”. These appointments have laid solid foundations for accelerating the development of the museum and further building collaboration worldwide. The appointments have also allowed for deeper collaboration between Golden Sea and China Stage Art Association and OISTAT. The appointment of Lin Ciao and Dr. Michael Ramsaur as our two honorary curators, involved in the management and expansion of the museum, will take its development to the next level. They will play a significant part in the research of developments in foreign and domestic stage lighting throughout history, and in the fusion between technology and the cultural arts.
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International Hall
Dan Redler, the founder of the original museum, spent over four decades collecting exhibits from all over the globe to establish “The Power of Light Museum”, which forms the international part of the current “International Lighting Museum”. The international hall contains a collection of stage lighting fixtures from as early as the 1600’s, 17th Century stage models and stage engineering books of the period, detailing how to control the strength, colour and focus directions of stage lights. The visitor is truly immersed in the journey from the Renaissance to the present day, from the candle to LED, as each of these exhibits played their parts in illuminating performances in theatres throughout history.
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China Hall
The Chinese hall is a brandnew addition to the original collection. It contains over 300 exhibits including light sources, regular lamps, moving fixtures as well as early textbooks and slides charting the development of stage lighting within Chinese history. Behind each exhibit is an alluring story, silently telling of the profound influence that technology has had on Chinese dramatic culture and the development, over time, of professional stage lighting.
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Development planning
Golden Sea has signed a co-founding agreement with CETA, the China institute of Stage Design, Dan Redler, the original founder of the museum, and the Central Academy of Drama. With the participation of these parties, the current collection will be constantly improved and enriched. The story behind the collection, as well as the history of the development of lighting in theatrical applications,will be researched in detail, providing a deep understanding of the historical development of the Western and Chinese stage lighting industry. Through donations, loans and acquisition, among others, the museum collection will be expanded and enhanced, further demonstrating the role stage lighting has played in our culture. Golden Sea has significant plans to invest in the future of the “The International Lighting Museum”which include expanding its scale, redesigning the museum from formation to composition; the hiring of an executive curator and the creation of a professional team to plan and execute the museum’s expansion, its long term sustainable development, to create lasting collaborations with third parties, and to have in place a master plan future development of the museum. We believe that with collaboration and co-operation from all areas of the industry, “The International Lighting Museum” will be an important resource, archiving the journey our technology has taken over the ages and the influence it has exerted over the performances it has lit.
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Executive director
“The International Lighting Museum” is seeking to recruit an executive curator from anywhere in the world. We are looking for any professionals with lighting industry experience and a passion for the history of light, theatre and Chinese traditional drama as well as for leading the construction and development future of our museum. If you are excited by this incredible opportunity to create a legacy in the stage lighting industry, please send your CV to Museum@terbly.com, or call+86 (0)2039966388. We look forward to hearing from you!
