Report on the CANON II lecture at CUE by Isabel Nielen from the Netherlands. 
On Wednesday 14 January at CUE 2026, Bastiaan Schoof (NL) and Chris van Goethem (BE) gave a lecture on CANON II: preserving the heritage of lighting designers, set designers and theatre technology. 
How can a company or designer preserve their legacy digitally in a sustainable way? Why should we keep records? And how do you store them so that they remain accessible in the future? 

During the lecture, it emerged that CANON II had grown out of an earlier international project, namely CANON – THE HISTORY OF THEATRE TECHNOLOGY.  The aim was to raise awareness and understanding of the history of theatre technology in Europe. 
If the history of theatre technology is not documented and preserved, a great deal of knowledge and experience will be lost. Because technology is constantly evolving and the people who still have experience with old techniques are literally dying out. How, then, can one understand the historical context or the lighting designs of theatre productions if one does not know how the technology worked at that time? Furthermore, many technical collections are in private ownership; it is important that a place is established, such as an open database, to ensure these collections are not lost and can be made available for study and research. 

The CANON I outputs included 100 ‘stories’ of the most significant practices, technologies, individuals, places, artefacts and buildings from the history of theatre technology.
The CANON I results can be found on the website. And on the CANON I database

What is CANON II about?

CANON II is a three-year Erasmus+ project funded by the E
uropean Union. It investigates how we can preserve lighting and set designs, along with the associated technology, for the future. The CANON II research project focuses on lighting design, lighting equipment and set design. Four case studies will be examinedand developed for each topic. The existing Canon database will be updated, expanded and made more accessible to the public. At the same time, we are developing guidelines on how to document these elements, so that the Canon database can continue to grow even after this project has ended.  

Who is involved? 

The project is supported by the following project partners: 

Erasmus University College Brussels, Belgium 

Berlin University of Applied Sciences, Germany 

Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance, United Kingdom 

Svensk Teaterteknisk Förening, Sweden 

Institut Umeni Divadelni Ustav, Czech Republic 

Stichting Instituut Lichtontwerpen, Netherlands 

In addition, there are many associated partners involved across the various countries

You can’t put light in a box! 

How exactly to document lighting design is the subject of this research. Light is quite elusive and, regardless of the technical implementation, it is more than just the number of lights or a percentage. Light creates atmosphere and emotion; to understand a realised lighting design, you need context regarding the location, the space and the direction. In practice, it appears that lighting designers do little or no archiving for the future. Digital files are no longer usable or readable after a few years. Archives are private or scattered and not organised according to our field. Furthermore, archives are not always accessible. It is much easier to archive documents and objects than lighting designs and stage sets. Often, the press photos of a production are close-ups that do not give a good impression of the entire stage set. 

As an example, Bastiaan showed two photos of the lighting design by Henk van der Geest for ‘Le Figaro’ – one a publicity photo taken from the wings, where no audience member saw the production from, and the other the audience’s view. A good press photo often captures details of a performance, whereas for a picture of the lighting design, it’s better to see the whole stage. 

Why are we doing this, and for whom?

We are undertaking this project because it is important to document and catalogue developments in the theatre sector. Not only the technical aspects, but also the creative side of the field. Many contemporary developments stem from the past. History teaches us about the present and provides perspective and context for the future.  

For example: why were so many theatres destroyed by fire (around that time)? It was due to the rise of gas lighting! New technology brings about change. 

The database will be made public and can be used by professionals, students, teachers, collectors and other archives. The aim is to make it easier to find information and link it to other archives and information sources. In doing so, it is important to look beyond national borders. 

Archiving makes room for new insights

Chris showed an image of a lighting design from the Allard Pierson Museum’s archive. In it, the design is laid out entirely like a musical score. It was the lighting script for *Poppetgom* by Scarabee. That’s another way to do it!
A fine example of a lighting design that you wouldn’t immediately expect to see presented in this way.

What exactly are we going to do?

• Develop a selection of documentation; what criteria will we use? 
• Find out what is stored and where. 
• Look for different forms of documentation for designs. 
• Find a method for using open data and linking it.   
• Investigate how we can preserve digital information and keep it usable. 
• How can we best describe lighting, set design and technical aspects? We would like to develop a language that everyone could use (controlled language). 
• We will produce practical guides for designers and technicians – for example, on how to photograph an object for an archive, or how to store your digital drawings. 
• We will describe how to set up an archive for yourself and how you could link it to the database. 

Please let people in the field know about this research project!

At the end of the talk, a public appeal was made regarding the Stichter table. Chris found the light table in an archive but doesn’t know how it works. The audience was asked if anyone had ever worked on this table or knew someone who had? And it turned out that among those present, there were about four people who had worked with a Stichter table in the past!   

The lecture ended with an appeal to anyone who might still have historical or recent theatre materials stored away in an attic or shed somewhere: please feel free to get in touch! 

Chris van Goethem – chris.van.goethem@ehb.be 

Bastiaan Schoof – bastiaan.schoof@ahk.nl 

Cue 2026 is the leading theatre technology trade fair in the Netherlands. On the exhibition floor, you’ll find everything related to theatre technology in the fields of lighting, sound and stage design. There is also a program of talks  lezingen programma.