AXEL MORGENTHALER – Lighting Artist

Axel Morgenthaler is recognized in Quebec as one of the most innovative visual designers, appreciated for his talents as a lighting designer, a set designer and as a multimedia artist. After having spent his formative years in Europe, collaborating with such luminaries as the architect Roman Dobrovodsky, the painter Sol Lewitt and the actor Massimo Rocchi, Morgenthaler turned his attention towards dance and theater. He has been exploring new concepts in set design, visual arts and architecture by using light as his raw material for creation and video, multimedia and cinema as his supporting elements. His lighting designs stand on their own as veritable works of art, though they are often integrated within various artistic mediums such as dance, theater and architecture. In 2002 he was awarded a Bessie Award in New York for the best set and lighting design for "Luna" by the O Vertigo Dance company.

Axel Morgenthaler has more than 100 lighting designs and set designs to his credit, collaborating with such eminent choreographers as Édouard Lock, Ginette Laurin, Marie Chouinard, José Navas, Jocelyne Montpetit, Stephen Petronio, Alonso King, and The Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation. He has worked on virtual theater happenings with such creators as Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon. Furthermore, he has collaborated with such theater directors as Gilles Maheux, Robert Lepage, Wajdi Mouawad, and Paola de Vasconcelos. He has also worked with the chanteuse Marie-Claire Séguin and the opera singer Pauline Vaillancourt. He has also been invited to participate in international opera productions at the Banff Centre for the Arts. International film and television productions have hired him to produce special effects having to do with lighting. Of note is his participation in the television series The Hunger by Tony and Ridley Scott. He has also been invited to participate in workshops in the video and electronic arts as well as take part in research projects for the improvement of lighting control software. In the year 2000, he held his first solo art show featuring his lighting installations in France. His collaborations have allowed him to travel across Canada, Asia, Europe and the United States. He was one of the artists showcased in "The Autumn of Quebec in New York" for which he created an interactive installation entitled BeamBeat. In 2001, founded the visual design company Photonic Dreams, with the objective of offering a global visual approach to dance, theater, architecture and art show projects.