Astera Illuminates Blindness Performance Work

	"We are incredibly proud to see Astera Titan Tubes play such a central role in Christina's powerful and imaginative lighting design," says Buckle. Photo: Elina Giounanli

Blindness, a raw, visceral performance work lit by Christina Thanasoula (of the Athens-based design studio Creative Lighting), directed by Emily Louizou, and premiered at the 2025 Athens Epidaurus Festival, has won two coveted LIT Lighting Design Awards -- one for stage lighting and one in the theatre performance lighting category.

Thanasoula's lighting design featured 24 Astera Titan Tubes, which were central to the illuminative aesthetic of the piece.

Blindness, based on the novel by Jose Saramago and adapted for the stage by Simon Stephens, tells the story of a blindness epidemic. The main stage design concept involved recreating an abandoned hospital psych ward. Fluorescent-style lighting, characteristic of institutionalized spaces, was replicated in the theatre using the Astera Titan Tubes.

These achieved the light dispersion and smooth, realistic, and accurate color shifting needed to help deliver the narrative, the company says. As the Titan Tube has a very contemporary look, Thanasoula and set designer Thalia Melissa worked closely to disguise the fixtures in battered housings that emulated the stark ambience of the psych ward.

The tubes were rigged in three rows of seven fixtures that accentuated the 30m depth of the space, Venue E of a former factory and one of the festival's main sites.

This positioning highlighted perspective, while allowing movement effects between the linear rows of lights synced to Irene Skylakaki's soundscape, complete with flickering effects, which gave additional layers of lighting texture.

Programming this oscillating and sparking was one of Thanasoula's favorite parts of lighting the project. "This effect accentuated the fast and pacey action of the piece, and I love it when music and light go hand-in-hand," she notes. The other three Titan Tubes were utilised as floor specials.

"We all live on the same planet; I hardly believe there is anyone out there not interested in sustainability," she says, adding, "Astera is a leading manufacturer in sustainability, offering creative tools with minimum environmental impact, achieving green goals without compromising creativity."

"We are incredibly proud to see Astera Titan Tubes play such a central role in Christina's powerful and imaginative lighting design," says Sebastian Buckle, chief strategy officer at Astera. "Blindness demonstrates how light can become a storytelling force of its own -- shaping space, emotion, and narrative. Christina's ability to transform our fixtures into something so seamlessly integrated and atmospheric is truly inspiring. We congratulate her and the entire creative team for this well-deserved recognition at the LIT Lighting Design Awards."