Showlight announce the latest round of international speakers to present Papers at Showlight 2025, as Willie Williams, Dr, Yaron Abulafia, Christina Thanasoula, Saffran Popille and Brad Schiller sign up to share their experiences with audiences in Dijon.
Willie Williams, best known for his 40-year creative relationship with rock band U2, amongst his many other skills and projects, shares insights gained from his extensive work combining immersive visuals with live performance. Artists now possess the tools to choreograph an entire audience’s perception during a live, shared experience. Williams asks, what does this mean for a performer? Is this the future, or just a distraction? Too much, or not enough?
Visual artist and researcher, Dr. Yaron Abulafia, whose work explores the dynamic intersection of light and space, will share his aesthetic vision of how he creates immersive dances of light to arouse spectators’ bodies and minds. He will present innovative production designs with kinetic and sculptural lighting scenography in some of the world’s leading ballet troupes, using examples from The Dutch National Ballet and The Stuttgart Ballet.
Christina Thanasoula has designed the lighting for over 250 opera, theatre and dance performances. She will examine how the dramaturgy of light is affected by live feed cameras as the ‘magnifying lens’ of lighting design combines with the camera to focus viewers’ attention on particular areas or actions on stage.
In a very special feature from our host city of Dijon, lighting designer Saffran Popille will give a presentation of the rue de la Liberté lighting project in Dijon. From the lighting design team and architect working on it from the beginnings of the project, commissioned by the city of Dijon, through the lighting design concept to the technical implementation, with particular emphasis on the dynamic lighting.
Based in Wales, Elanor Higgins has been lighting productions for theatre, opera, dance, musicals and children’s theatre for over 25 years. Reflecting on her role as Lead Lighting Designer for Galwad (2022), a transmedia, multi-platform and site-specific performance, Elanor will show how she worked in close collaboration with the Director of Photography and the Installation Light Artist, blending theatre lighting, single-shot cinematography and a water projection installation to create a unique visual experience.
Self-proclaimed ‘lighting geek’ Brad Schiller returns to Showlight, this time with a look into the wonderful world of GDTF (aka General Device Type Format). This standardised system is a godsend in the entertainment industry, allowing us to describe easily the properties of lighting fixtures and other devices. But beware, there are also some pitfalls in the current implementations. Learn how to improve your workflow with GDTF and Brad!
Visit the Showlight 2025 website to see the growing list of speakers, with more being added in the coming weeks. Better still, join the Showlight Mailing List and social media sites to be the first to hear new additions as they are announced!
