Durham is out to lighten up our lives with its spectacular Lumiere sequel. David Whetstone looks at what's on.
THE lights go on in Durham tomorrow evening for the second Lumiere festival - and by that we don't mean just the street lamps or the dipped beams of home-bound traffic.
Over four evenings, visitors to the city can roam streets illuminated by 35 different lighting installations – some of them by internationally- renowned artists and others by creative newcomers.
Lumiere first lit up Durham in 2009. There were tentative plans for it to become a biennial event, but it was an unknown quantity. Would people come? Would local traders regard it as a hindrance or a help?
Despite some teething problems, Lumiere 2009 was deemed a big success, pulling in night-time crowds and enhancing the city’s cultural aspirations.
Durham County Council was delighted, even if its bid to be City of Culture 2013 subsequently failed. Having decided to adhere to its vision for the city, the council showed London-based producers Artichoke the green light for a second festival in 2011. This week Artichoke’s Anna Vinegrad said lessons had been learned from the inaugural Lumiere.
“Last time it became very constricted spatially because so many people came – so this time, to alleviate the pressure on potential bottlenecks, things are more spread out and the festival will take place over a wider area. More buses have been laid on to provide an enhanced park and ride system.”
There will be limited parking only in the city centre, so motorists are advised to use park and ride sites at Belmont, Howlands Farm and Sniperley Park or the park and walk site at County Hall, Aykley Heads. The last buses will leave the city centre at 10pm.
Lumiere takes place from Thursday to Sunday, 6pm to 11pm. Tomorrow only, at 6pm to mark the launch of the festival, there will be a River of Light parade from Millennium Square (beside the Gala Theatre) to Palace Green. Hundreds of children from across County Durham will parade with lanterns.
It promises to be a festival of highlights. Returning due to popular demand is Ross Ashton’s Crown of Light at Durham Cathedral.
Aided by composer Robert Ziegler and sound engineer John del’Nero, Ashton designed a psychedelic picture show to be projected on to the wall of the cathedral, including images from the Lindisfarne Gospels.
Alongside this unmissable spectacle will be many new examples of the art of illumination.
Inside the cathedral nave and cloisters you can see Spirit, by French “fire alchemists” Compagnie Carabosse, a potentially spectacular piece involving lanterns fashioned from vests and evoking County Durham’s mining heritage.
Neon works by Tracey Emin and Martin Creed – the former shortlisted for the Turner Prize a few years back, the latter a winner in 2001 – will offer words of advice.
See Emin’s Be Faithful To Your Dreams at St Nicholas’s Chapel, Providence Row, and Creed’s Work No. 1086 – Everything Is Going To Be Alright at Old Shire Hall.
Another artist fond of neon and text, Claire Fontaine, from France, exhibits CAPITALISM KILLS LOVE at the Durham Miners’ Hall, North Road.
The work must be dubbed controversial because it was ordered to be removed from an art fair in Miami not so long ago, the Americans possible scenting a Commie plot. This marks Fontaine’s UK debut.
Splash, by landscape artist Peter Lewis, will transform the Kingsgate footbridge into an illuminated waterfall dropping 500,000 litres of water an hour into the River Wear.
It is, says Anna Vinegrad, “a massive feat of hydraulic engineering”. Best seen from Elvet Bridge, it will mimic a larger version Lewis made in Canada 30 years ago.
Among other Lumiere highlights are Brothers and Sisters, Ron Haselden’s giant LED lighting versions of children’s drawings of their classmates and LED’s Dance, an interactive dance floor by Dorota Kraft, of Poland. Both can be seen at Wharton Park.
Free talks and events under the title Illuminate takes place alongside this year’s festival. Details are in the programme, or online at www.lumieredurham.co.uk