Point Source Productions, working in conjunction with Fine Art Lighting, has supplied the lighting solutions to auctioneers, Sotheby's, for over 20,000 sale items. These are estimated to raise over £2.5m and are arranged in 1,400 lots within a series of marquees in the grounds of Chatsworth House.
The marquees were chosen specifically to give the ambience of a country house sale and arranged in a square around a central courtyard in which are sited the larger objects such as cars, carriages, garden items, carts, chimney pieces and architectural elements.
The team from Sotheby's - James Miller, David Macdonald and Tom Heaven, under the leadership of Sotheby's head of UK country house sales, Harry Dalmeny - wanted to create an environment which was understated, where visitors would feel comfortable exploring and rummaging, and could discover 'lost items' of history for themselves. Set designer Nicky Aubrey, with Mark Blann, used high walls within the marquees to delineate corridors and 'rooms' that represent attic rooms where the main lots were laid out.
Fine Art Lighting's Rupert von Wehrenalp has worked with Sotheby's on a number of occasions and understands well what was required. "It was my job to light the marquees in a way which would maintain the integrity of the attic-feel the Sotheby's team had created.
"I therefore steered away from making it too bright or clean in style, in favour of a design which would encourage that feeling of exploration in the main part of the marquees. I then added subtle keylights to over 60 areas which still allowed the star lots to shine out."
Point Source Productions', Mike Cutting continues, "To complement the shape of the marquees, we decided a discrete central Litec spine-truss would be the most versatile and aesthetically pleasing solution to lighting the interiors. Strand Coda 1s were used for general lighting which, being tungsten, give a warm, even light. The keylights on the major artefacts were provided by 650W CCT Minuette Fresnels and the remainder by birdies. We deliberately kept the fixtures small to suit the limited power supply and weight-loading capabilities of the marquees."
Exhibits situated on the outer edge of the false walls forming the corridors also needed to be lit. "At 7ft 6in the marquee walls are rather low to hang lights from without passers-by casting shadows over the objects," says Cutting, "so we used Kader clamps to attach 5mm steel cables to the roof purlins and suspended 'budgie bars' on which we could rig fixtures to successfully light the outer edges without causing obstruction or being obtrusive."
Point Source Productions also supplied the working lights for deliveries and removals and for car parking, all of which was controllable by the client.
(Jim Evans)
