Uploaded November 2020 | Updated September 2026, 6 hours ago
How is electric light impacting our health? And what subtle changes are we experiencing as a species? Join us for LIGHT SWITCH from 2pm-4pm on 28 November for a one-day online symposium produced by the Design History Society and Science Gallery Dublin to coincide with the closing of our exhibition INVISIBLE.
We think of electric light as enabling visibility but it also blinds us. Light pollution eliminates darkness from our skies and our panorama of the stars and universe is lost. Light Switch will take you on the journey of how our lives have changed with this technology with two sessions: Electric Light in the Body and Home and Electric Light in the City and Environment.
Speakers from design and science come together to tell the story of how electric light has redesigned our lives, the spaces we live in and the impact of removing darkness from our lives. You will hear from design historians Sorcha O’Brien and Lisa Godson, historian Kristin Hussey, chronobiologist Andrew Coogan alongside physicist Brian Espey and architect Donal Lally.
PART 1 - ELECTRIC LIGHT IN THE BODY AND HOME
Talk 1: The Light of Heaven to our Souls’: Rural Electrification and Domestic Light in Ireland
Sorcha O’Brien, Assistant Lecturer in Design History at NCAD
Talk 2: The Dark Side of Light and the Light Side of Dark
Andrew Coogan, Behavioural Neuroscientist and Director of the Chronobiology and Sleep Research Laboratory at Maynooth University
Talk 3: Light for Health: Dreams and dangers of light and lighting
Kristin Hussey, Historian of Medicine and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of Copenhagen
PART 2 - ELECTRIC LIGHT IN THE CITY AND ENVIRONMENT
Talk 4: An assault against tiredness: neon lights, colour, glass, gender, consumption, entertainment, architecture
Lisa Godson, Director of MA Design History and Material Culture at NCAD, Dublin
Talk 5: Lights Out
Donal Lally, Architect and Design Lecturer at Technological University of Dublin
Talk 6:The City of Blinding Lights?
Brian Espey, Astronomist and Physics Lecturer at Trinity College Dublin
ZOOM PANEL DISCUSSION
youtube.com/channel/UCoDimMxzIgWqr4jsNN4g7lg?view_as=subscriber
How is electric light impacting our health? And what subtle changes are we experiencing as a species? Join us for LIGHT SWITCH from 2pm-4pm on 28 November for a one-day online symposium produced by the Design History Society and Science Gallery Dublin to coincide with the closing of our exhibition INVISIBLE.
We think of electric light as enabling visibility but it also blinds us. Light pollution eliminates darkness from our skies and our panorama of the stars and universe is lost. Light Switch will take you on the journey of how our lives have changed with this technology with two sessions: Electric Light in the Body and Home and Electric Light in the City and Environment.
Speakers from design and science come together to tell the story of how electric light has redesigned our lives, the spaces we live in and the impact of removing darkness from our lives. You will hear from design historians Sorcha O’Brien and Lisa Godson, historian Kristin Hussey, chronobiologist Andrew Coogan alongside physicist Brian Espey and architect Donal Lally.
PART 1 - ELECTRIC LIGHT IN THE BODY AND HOME
Talk 1: The Light of Heaven to our Souls’: Rural Electrification and Domestic Light in Ireland
Sorcha O’Brien, Assistant Lecturer in Design History at NCAD
Talk 2: The Dark Side of Light and the Light Side of Dark
Andrew Coogan, Behavioural Neuroscientist and Director of the Chronobiology and Sleep Research Laboratory at Maynooth University
Talk 3: Light for Health: Dreams and dangers of light and lighting
Kristin Hussey, Historian of Medicine and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of Copenhagen
PART 2 - ELECTRIC LIGHT IN THE CITY AND ENVIRONMENT
Talk 4: An assault against tiredness: neon lights, colour, glass, gender, consumption, entertainment, architecture
Lisa Godson, Director of MA Design History and Material Culture at NCAD, Dublin
Talk 5: Lights Out
Donal Lally, Architect and Design Lecturer at Technological University of Dublin
Talk 6:The City of Blinding Lights?
Brian Espey, Astronomist and Physics Lecturer at Trinity College Dublin
ZOOM PANEL DISCUSSION
youtube.com/channel/UCoDimMxzIgWqr4jsNN4g7lg?view_as=subscriber
![PLASTIC - Cant live with it, cant live without it [3 min video]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/kkGUi5vbvBc/mqdefault.jpg "PLASTIC - Cant live with it, cant live without it [3 min video]
It is essential but polluting. It saves lives, yet it chokes our oceans. It is cheap to create but expensive to dispose of. It can last forever but is often used only once. PLASTIC has changed our daily lives and our environment more than any other material. The unsustainability of our relationship with it is well documented, but to stop using it completely is not an option. Its use has revolutionised industrial design and more essentially, modern medicine relies on plastic so heavily that even the most basic medical procedures would be unimaginable without it. But what are the effects of such an incredibly long-lasting substance? How can we reduce plastic consumption without compromising medicine, science and the many industries that rely on its use?
Curious? Visit Science Gallery’s latest exhibition PLASTIC – CAN’T LIVE WITH IT, CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT IT from October 25th until 9th February 2020 and explore how we can responsibly use this incredible material, while fundamentally changing our approach to living with it.")
