Man with a Light Projector: László Moholy-Nagy’s Cinematographic Toolkit

The Light Prop for an Electric Stage—also known as the Light–Space Modulator—is a major piece by László Moholy-Nagy, yet its intended use has remained subject to debates. Does its importance lie in being a stage lighting tool, a three-dimensional mobile sculpture, or conversely, a projector which shows its full glory in Light Play: Black–White–Grey, the film Moholy-Nagy created with and about it? As a cinematographer, I will argue in this essay that the Light Prop stages an elemental engagement with light by someone constantly tinkering with the kind of lighting props that are still very much in use in photography and filmmaking today.