LUMIERE
LUMIERE was a four-day light festival that brightened the historic city of Durham, with a sprinkle of winter magic. More than 50 artists created a breathtaking series of installations, illuminations and performances using light.
The event was hosted by Artichoke, a London based production house whose pedigree for producing large scale events is well known with their last project being the forth plinth in Trafalgar Square. LUMIERE was the best lighting event that the city of Durham had seen and is the largest light festival in the UK this year.
It is usual for us to write a case study about our projects but this time we thought that it would be nice to give you an insight into what makes a festival happen. With this in mind, we asked our production team to keep a journal of the build-up to the event and this is what they wrote.
It is another cold and wet night, the fingers barely work and the rain is making its way inside your waterproof jacket. Nice. Most sensible people would be curling up in front of the fire or indeed, in bed. This is the install of LUMIERE. Hi-Lights will have supplied to 13 of the 23 installations, no mean feet for a company not based in London! Whether it be interactive or architectural projection, lighting sculptures or lighting up some of the fabulous architecture of Durham, everything requires hard work and dedication to achieve the goal, whatever the time of day or state of weather.
With 4 days to go to the opening night, trusses are erected and attached to buildings, none destructively, using designs that are created by Hi-Lights. Equipment is delivered to various artists around Durham.
With 3 days to go, installations continue around the Cathedral with lighting equipment being installed on rooftops and the dressing of shop windows.
With 2 days to go, our attention is now drawn to the installations of Air Vag on the roofs of the library and Gala Theatre. These lit inflatable sculptures require a load spreading truss system, which we have supplied and installed.
With 1 day to go, projection towers are completed in the marketplace and testing of the interactive projections is completed along Silver Street. Out of the city centre, the Viaduct comes alive with colour as a commissioned installation is put in place. To the east of the city, the Shire Hall is now lit in a way never seen before. The city is now alive with colour and imagery.
The diversity of stock and abilities available from Hi-Lights, not matched by any other North East company, has benefited this festival massively. We will now remain on site and look after our exhibits till the end of the festival.
For more information on LUMIERE please visit http://www.lumieredurham.co.uk/
