LUMIA is: The Art of LIGHT.

The number of ways that LIGHT can be used is so large and varied that it is impossible to begin to list them all. And the list is growing exponentially.

Technologies that involve LIGHT are becoming more and more common. Newer and more exotic uses are devised daily for the substance called LIGHT.

This discussion of the use of LIGHT in the production of visual beauty, will touch only briefly on all but the LUMIC Art of VUSIC. which is discussed in another chapter.

This chapter is an overview of the various types or kinds of LUMIC Arts that there are.

The kinds of LUMIC Arts are so many and varied that only the most general mention will be made of each, though there are some particularly interesting high points in the history of LUMIA. which will be mentioned with a somewhat deeper treatment of the subject.

One of the greatest advancements in the history of the theater involved the first successful attempt to beam a pencil of LIGHT to illuminate an actor on a darkened stage.

The way this was first done was to dip a parabolic bowl into milk to make it reflective and then to sprinkle Lime into the flame of the candle while holding the milk coated bowl near the flame. The Lime would hit the flame and glow with a brilliant Whitness.

It was bright enough to withstand the reflection loss and the resultant projection was bright enough to permit Plays to be done at night, and to direct the attention of the audience to wherever the playwrite wanted their attention focused.

It was from this practice that the term "limelight" came into being and it has since come to mean "being at the center of attention". The inventor of this system was none other than William Shakespeare!

Show LIGHTing, the use of LIGHT to enhance a show has come to be a huge production and the amount and variety of LIGHT devices exceeds comprehension. The effects are generally spectacular and the purpose to which they are put is the presenting of the Artist/s on stage in an environment that can be changed to fit the mood. In addition to LIGHT and the changing of the color, position, size, intensity, pattern, etc., there has been added such elements as smoke, bubbles, wind, and other special effects. The LUMIC Art of Show LIGHTing is one of the major parts of a contemporary concert.

Pyrotechnics is an extremely popular and highly developed LUMIC Art form. The production of devices that are able to produce large explosive LIGHT displays in a 3-D format is so dangerous that it has of necessity become very specialized. The acknowledged masters of Pyrotechnics are the Chinese. Fireworks are ubiquitously used throughout the world as an accepted form of "celebration" of momentous occasions.

Movies and Television are both LUMIC mediums and what is shown on the screen is Artistically done. The exploits of the Movie/TV industry are common knowledge.

LIGHTed displays such as neon and interiorly illuminated plexiglas signs are LUMIC Art and have been elevated to a point of being "monumental" in instances such as can be seen in Las Vegas.

Laser displays have are commonly used to provide attention getting appeal to various kinds of events. The use of computers and other highly evolved technologies have made Lasers highly appealing. Originally Lasers were used as displays that were made automatically while the MUSIC played. Further development has more and more attained Synaesthetic correspondence. But in the beginning, it was pretty much a "hit and miss" situation.

With the advent of the more sophisticated equipment, and the further development of the sense of criterion of the Laser LUMIA Artist, the correspondence between the LIGHT and SOUND is more and more achieved with un-erring regularity.

It must be said that the Laser has a great potential which has yet to be fully tapped, and because of this, once the novelty of any certain effect wears off, one is left with a "been there, done that" feeling.

Still this is not a limitation of the Laser based system, but rather shows the level or extent of the challenge that this is to the Artist's virtuosity and development.

Kalidescopes are a LUMIC device that uses LIGHT, and its ability to reflect to produce fascinating beauty.

There are eye-covering LIGHT producing devices that use strobe rate and intensity to create altered mind states. This has the potential for being used Artistically and thus become a LUMIC Art.

As you can see, the uses of LIGHT in today's culture and society are numerous, and new ways to use LIGHT are daily being conceived and implemented. It is one of the most fruitful areas of Art in existence today, for unlike the other more traditional forms of Art, the number of Artists involved is nowhere near what it is in the other Arts.

This is a relatively exotic and esoteric Art form, but the time is coming when its popularity will gain in immensity and stature among the Arts of the World. The proliferation of equipment made to do just that is presently becoming more and more available and affordable.

LUMIA in general and VUSIC. in particular, is slated to make an auspicious entrance on the world entertainment scene and it will gain worldwide acceptance. Acceptance that will be equal in phenomenal stature to what Sinatra, Presley and the Beatles were to the Art of SONIA.

It is simply the next step!