NY Times on Headlamp Art, Design

American interest in the esoterica of vehicle lighting—the design, the styling, the technique, the art—has long been scant. Generally Americans just don’t care much about car lights beyond their mundane functionality. That’s changing, as it seems; an article in the Art & Design section of the New York Times discusses the intensifying interrelationships among technology, technique, and style in car lights. The article is interesting not only because it gets the technical descriptions right, which is notable in a general-audience publication particularly in America, but also because it makes reference to an exhibition of photos of car lights! The show isn’t in America, it’s in Switzerland, but nevertheless it is a novel thing to see such an exhibit mentioned in America. The notion of a car lamp’s job is expanding beyond just the lighting functions it performs; more and more the lights are billboards and windows to advertise the maker’s brand signature and the overall level of technology in the car…even in America!

Link to the NY Times article