Professor Nick Hunt
Digital Research and Innovation Fellow
Summary
Nick Hunt is Professor of Lighting Design and Performance Technologies. He undertakes research and leads development and innovation projects, working with industry and academic partners nationally and internationally. His research interests include performative potential of light, digital scenography and performance, theatre technology history, and the roles and status of theatre-making personnel. Nick is an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media and has served as co-convener of the Scenography Working Groups of both IFTR and TaPRA. He also chairs Rose Bruford College’s Research Integrity and Ethics Committee.
Nick began his career as a professional lighting designer and technician for theatre and opera, before starting to teach lighting design at Rose Bruford College, where he later became Head of the School of Design, Management and Technical Arts. He has extensive experience of creating and leading programmes in the production arts for the theatre and entertainment industries. He has developed new programmes at Rose Bruford College and for Wimbledon College of Arts, the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore.
Teaching
Research
Teaching Area
Nick supervises undergraduate and postgraduate research projects (including PhDs) in lighting design and technology, scenography, digital performance, the history of performance technologies, and professional practices in technical theatre.
Examination/Supervision Experience
External Supervisor, PhD – Bath Spa University (December 2021 – present)
Director of Studies & Second Supervisor, PhD – Rose Bruford College & University of East London (September 2017 – present)
Examiner, PhD – University of South Queensland (May 2022)
Examiner, MA – WAAPA Edith Cowan University (March 2021)
Examiner, PhD – University of Leeds (December 2019)
Examiner, MPhil – University of New South Wales (October 2019)
Examiner, PhD by Published Works – University of Leeds (December 2015)
Nick undertakes PhD supervision in the areas of scenography (including lighting, stage design and digital performance); theatre and performance technologies; the history of theatre design and technical theatre; industry practices and the role and status of theatre-making personnel. His current supervision includes projects investigating how digital visualisation can be used to support the creative process, and the pedagogy of technical theatre training.
Qualifications
PhD, “Repositioning the Role of the Lighting Artist in Live Theatre Performance” (Middlesex University)
Memberships
Association of Lighting Designers
International Federation for Theatre Research
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
External Duties
Nick is an associate editor of the International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media. He has acted as external examiner, reviewer and validation panel member for many higher education institutions in the UK and abroad, including Canterbury Christ Church University, Uzbekistan State Institute of Arts and Culture, the University of Derby, the University of West London, St Mary’s University and LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore.
Publications
Book Chapters
Hunt, N. (2015). ‘Playability: A Reinvention of Contemporary Lighting Practice Drawing on Fred Bentham’s 1930s Light Console’, in Forment, B. & Stalpaert, C. (ed.) Theatrical Heritage: Challenges and Opportunities. Leuven: Leuven University Press.
Hunt, N. (2014). ‘Opera, Art and Industrial Production’, in Fryer, P. (ed.) Opera in the Media Age: Essays on Art, Technology and Popular Culture. Jefferson: McFarland and Co. Inc.
Conference Papers
Hunt, N. (2022). ‘CANON: Digital Technologies for Teaching the History of Technical Theatre’, Electronic Visualisation and the Arts Conference. British Society of Computing, 4-8 July. London. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpMytqJJOpo. (Accessed: 4 July 2023).
Hunt, N. (2022). ‘CANON: A Transnational and Interdisciplinary Model for Researching the History of Technical Theatre’, International Federation for Theatre Research Conference. Reykjavik, Iceland, 20-24 June.
Hunt, N. (2022). ‘CANON: A Transnational and Interdisciplinary Model for Teaching the History of Technical Theatre’, Harnessing a 21st Century Approach to Performing Arts: Technology, Practice, Education and Research Conference. Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts (online), 20-22 January.
Hunt, N. (2020). ‘Cuddington: a Photoscenographic Investigation of the Public Park’, Connections: Exploring Heritage, Architecture, Cities, Art, Media Online Conference. AMPS, 24-26 June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXU2Qn9ngpk. (Accessed: 4 July 2023).
Hunt, N. (2019). ‘The Lighting Laboratory: A Place of Imagination, Transformation and Memory’, Theatre and Performance Research Association Conference. University of Exeter, 4-6 September.
Hunt, N. (2019). ‘The Pedagogy of the Lighting Laboratory’, International Federation for Theatre Research Scenography Working Group Meeting. Charles University, 14-15 June. Prague, Czech Republic.
Hunt, N. and Schmidt, H. (2019). ‘Traces’, DocPerform3 Conference. University of London, 16 May.
Hunt, N. (2018). ‘Cuddington: An ongoing photography project’, International Federation for Theatre Research Conference. Belgrade, Serbia, 9-13 July.
Hunt, N. (2017). ‘Cuddington: An ongoing photography project’, Prague Quadrennial Porous Borders Symposium. Prague, Czech Republic, 12-14 October.
Hunt, N. (2017). ‘Small Spaces: using light and photography to make miniature scenographies’, International Federation for Theatre Research Conference. São Paulo University, Brazil, 10-14 July.
Hunt, N. (2016). ‘Fugitive Light: seeing stage lighting through production photographs’, International Federation for Theatre Research Conference. Stockholm University, Sweden, 13-17 June.
Hunt, N. (2015). ‘A Commanding View: the scenography of the production desk and the technical rehearsal’, International Federation for Theatre Research Conference. University of Hyderabad, India, 6-10 July.
Hunt, N. (2015). ‘’Technology is supremely unimportant’: the intersection between technologies, creative practice and professional roles in contemporary performance-making’, On the New Technical Literacies at Play Within Contemporary Live Performance Symposium. School of Music & Performing Arts, Canterbury Christ Church University, 21 May.
Hunt, N. (2014). ‘What’s the Small Idea?: A miniature art gallery for one’, TaPRA. Royal Holloway University of London, 3-5 September.
Hunt, N. (2014). ‘Digging the Present: A (Partial) Archaeology of Contemporary Scenography’, International Federation for Theatre Research Conference. University of Warwick, 28 July – 1 August.
Exhibitions
Boundary Conditions (one part of Cuddington) (2019). [Exhibition]. Spatial Culture Festival, Novi Sad, Serbia. 21-22 September 2019.
Installations
Hunt, N. & Schmidt, H. (2018). Traces. [Installation]. Flux, The Ugly Duck, London. (31 May – 3 June).
Journal Articles
Hunt, N. (2020). ‘The Virtual Opera House: hybrid realities in lighting design processes for large-scale opera’, Theatre and Performance Design, 6(4), pp. 341-355. https://doi.org/10.1080/23322551.2020.1856302
Hunt, N. (2020). ‘Photoscenography: Cuddington [artist’s pages]’, Performance Research, 25(4), pp. 134-135.
Hunt, N. (2018). ‘Modelling light: the transformative role of the model and the miniature studio in the development of lighting design practices in the UK’, Theatre and Performance Design, 4(1-2), pp. 101-118. https://doi.org/10.1080/23322551.2018.1464841
Allen, C. & Hunt, N. (2016). ‘Illuminated manuscripts’, Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, 7(2), pp. 165-167. https://doi.org/10.1080/19443927.2016.1210848
Reviews
Hunt, N. (2015). Review of Theatre, Performance and Technology: the Development and Transformation of Scenography, by Christopher Baugh. New Theatre Quarterly, 31(3), pp. 293-294 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266464X15000561
Professional Practice
Nick has created over seventy professional lighting designs for theatre, dance and corporate events, as well as having worked extensively as a lighting technician and manager.
Research Interests
The role of light in performance; technologies in performance (including digital technologies); the relationship between photography and scenography; professional theatre-making practices, especially those related to performance lighting.