kth.sePublications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Lights for democracy: lighting as a tool for Brazilian political protests
KTH, School of Architecture and the Built Environment (ABE), Architecture, Lighting Design.
2022 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (One Year)), 10 credits / 15 HE creditsStudent thesis
Abstract [en]

This paper investigates the role of artificial light as a tool for spread a political message, focusing on Brazilian political scenario. Given the recent context of the weakening of many democratic institutions around the world together with Covid-19 pandemic, new ways of protesting have been transforming the character of political demonstrations. The aim is to identify which tools are being used in Brazil for this purpose and to comprehend what is the future of light protests. First, an analysis of how light has been incorporated into political art is briefly described. Then, some recent political protests around the world in which light was used in different ways are presented. After an overview of the use of light in contemporaneity, the research focus on Brazilian protest scene using three light tools: drones, lasers and projectors. 

The research methodology is conducted through case studies of works by five artists combined with interviews with artists, projection collectives and academic experts. The results show that the pandemic in Brazil along with political mismanagement, triggered a massive wave of projections throughout the country. What before the pandemic had already gained strength, after the year 2020 took on a larger dimension. As a result, projections became popular to the extent that workshops were held in low-income communities to teach people how to build projectors with flashlights and paper. Another aspect raised during the research is that lasers have taken hold and tend to become more popular in the coming years. There is no Brazilian national legislation for the use of lasers, projectors and drones in cities during protest situations, as the laws are in each individual state. Given this growth in the use of these lighting tools, a national law may be created.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2022.
Series
TRITA-ABE-MBT-22227
Keywords [en]
Brazilian protests, lighting, lights for democracy, projections, political lighting
National Category
Architecture
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-315632OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-315632DiVA, id: diva2:1683219
Subject / course
Architecture
Educational program
Master of Science - Architectural Lighting Design
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2022-07-14 Created: 2022-07-14

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(15859 kB)727 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 15859 kBChecksum SHA-512
d7935600fbd258ba10e05f33328d37e2321ee801161f7336589eb34236c8578ac07e4c05aa79288c4de4c042c5bcc88e992e8435c06aad3db261e0acc07a00a4
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

By organisation
Lighting Design
Architecture

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
Total: 733 downloads
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

urn-nbn

Altmetric score

urn-nbn
Total: 1389 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf