Why is it so dark in here? Perception of Brightness at Low Light Levels in Museum Environments.

Innes, Malcolm

Abstract

Many museum and gallery exhibits are fragile objects that would not survive repeated handling. Even where this is not the case, it is generally frowned upon for visitors to touch exhibits. As a result, vision is by far the most important sense for museum visitors.

The author’s 18 years of experience of conservation lighting led to the recognition that, at low light levels, there is a strong correlation between colour temperature and perceived brightness. This is evidenced when curators dim down lighting schemes measured at below 50lux because they claim "it looked too bright to be 50lux", believing that a dim orange light signifies conservation levels.

Citation

Innes, M. (2011). Why is it so dark in here? Perception of Brightness at Low Light Levels in Museum Environments.

• Conference Name: Professional Lighting Design Convention 2011
• Start Date: Oct 19, 2012
• End Date: Oct 22, 2012
• Publication Date: 2011-11
• Deposit Date: Apr 9, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 9, 2014
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: Gallery lighting; lighting design; visual experience; light sensitivity
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/6743