ABSTRACT
The future of art is light.—Henri Matisse (1869-1954), French painter and sculptor
Automated lighting systems range from small systems with a few luminaires running preset programs in a master/slave confi guration with no external controller to extremely large systems with multiple fi xture types and multiple controllers running simultaneously on a network. One of the larger automated lighting systems was used in the taping of the HBO special Britney Spears, Live from Las Vegas in 2001. It had a total of 618 automated lights, including 12 different models from four different manufacturers. The automated lighting alone, not including any conventional lighting, consumed about two-thirds of a megawatt and had a retail value of well over $5 million, not counting the power distribution, rigging hardware, transportation, and labor.
