Shine 2010 - The Urban Garden
Sunderland was seen in a new light as part of the dazzling SHINE 2010: Urban Garden festival. The event was an exciting family-friendly festival that ran from January 22nd until January 31st. The aim of the festival was to transform venues and spaces across Sunderland into a spectacle of art.
The Winter Gardens, located in the heart of the city centre, was to be a focal point for this festival and we were tasked with the design and installation. Building on our success of LUMIERE, our design team headed by Martin & James, had to design a piece which was visually exciting, fun and an interactive experience for visitors to walk throughout the interior garden display.
The Winter Gardens, normally seen by day, had another side. This was your chance to experience the world from a different perspective. Once 5 o'clock had passed and the sun had gone down, it was time for a different light to take over.
Colour, spiralled around the roof of the dome, hundreds of LED's hanging from the structure of the roof, like the stars, glistening in the evening sky. The structure of the glass dome itself illuminated and visible from miles around.
Visitors were ushered to enter the Garden into what appeared to be darkness. As you paused for a moment before carrying on, you heard a noise, a low rumble, was it the sound of a tree growing? Before you have time to listen more closely a light was on, coming from behind, then it was not it was from in front, patterns on the floor, like light through trees, but there are no trees here? You heard the noise again. The light faded away; in front another light was on drawing you forward, this time you saw some more. The noise is there again, more light were on, drawing you round. As you moved the lights were triggered, were they now following you rather than you following them?
"Working in a venue such as the Winter Garden was a unique experience and showcases how versatile and creative our Events Team can be".
Martin Warden