Making light work of information design: The son et lumière and a cineplastic strategy for communicating buildings

The son et lumière uses dramatic audio and visual projections to interpret and awaken a sensory engagement with heritage sites. I suggest that such cinematic interventions may be seen as a crucial way of conceptualising information design in the media landscape of the 21st century. This article draws on the son et lumière at Blois Château as precursor and provocateur to contemporary approaches in information design which unite projected image and tangible form. In this example, an understanding of the relationship between architecture and light image suggests the visual and interpretative possibilities that the “cineplasticity” of the projected image can offer for helping viewers absorb information by “seeing differently.” The article demonstrates that the son et lumière, as a form of information design, may have broad based cultural applications.