Trent Kim
Lumia as a Constructive Myth: Case Study on Thomas Wilfred's Lumia from the Interwar US

My literature review suggests that discourses around Lumia are highly divisive and biased by individual groups of historians and practitioners and are often based on a superficial and partial observation which support a foregone conclusion due to the lack of synergy between writing and making. Therefore, my methodology focused on the notion of subversion to reveal Lumia's own history and incorporated mixed methods to find a positive balance between writing and making: discourse analysis, archival and material research, seminars, interviews, prototyping with alternative technology and cross-media collaborations. Through the case study on Lumia, I demonstrate ways of practicing Lumia through making and writing, and interpret Lumia as an art that animates and performs the void with light that distinguishes itself from other light art practices in audio-visual performance, theatre and projection art. Further, I analyse patterns of strategies that I have discovered through the research and propose 'Cycle of Mythmaking' in my conclusion as a methodology for historically informed practical making and practically informed historical writing to argue maker's contributions to historical research.