Seeing the light
Nov. 18th, 2013 10:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustLumiere weekend has just passed - the third time Durham has hosted this festival of lights. We enjoyed the 2009 version, and had mixed feelings about the 2011 version (which is not the reason why my post about it was in two parts, part 1 and part 2).
We walked into town on Thursday evening, and then took the car yesterday to visit a couple of the less central installations. But first:
One of the best things was not, technically, part of the show. There was a magnificent full moon, and it kept edging into shot. Here it is caught up in a tree which seems to be floodlit for no apparent reason (the light should have been behind me at this point, as I had my back to the viaduct which later came out in green and purple lights - but not yet). Mysteriously, this is the most viewed of all the pictures I posted to Flickr.
The first actual installation we came to was a flock of brightly coloured watering cans suspended above the North Road roundabout, pouring filaments of fibre optic water onto the grass. It's called 'Guardian Angels' - I don't know why. A little further on, a team of stick figures were storming the frontage of the old Miners' Hall, to musical accompaniment:
The artists' website says "Sound is a mix of old miners songs, coalmine sounds, struggle and strikes voices, and deep basses coming from inside the disco" but while we watched, it was Working in a coalmine, which amused me.
A telephone box in the Market Place had been transformed into an aquarium: I was expecting this to be some sort of representation, but no, through the crowd clustered around it I could see real fish swimming in the pale blue light - if it was an illusion, it was a good one. Then again - but no, I'll get to that later! We were heading for the 'hub', the information point in Millennium Place, but we might as well not have bothered: by the time we reached there, we had already been given maps, and they didn't have any information to add - indeed,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
durham_rambler was able to tell the very pleasant young woman on the counter that one installation had been deferred because of high winds: he had picked up an e-mail alert from the local paper, which she knew nothing about. Still, it was a chance to check our watches:
'Helvetictoc', projected onto the wall of the library, repeated from Lumiere 2011. We could see the lights projected onto Milburngate House across the river, but walked instead towards Elvet Bridge, past the Prince Bishops' shopping centre where something ingenious had been done with illuminated carried bags strung across the road, past the sign across Saddler Street proclaiming it A PLACE BEYOND BELIEF (which I might have thought an interesting comment on the approach to the cathedral had I not previously seen the same piece behind the Pier Art Gallery on Stromness Harbour), down towards the extraordinary noises coming from Elvet Bridge, which were apparently being made by an elephant:
Not that we saw this view straight away: approaching from the Market Place, we had a magnificent view of the elephant's backside, as he swung his head to and fro and trumpeted. We had to pass under the arch, below those trampling feet, to see the beast head on - which at least confirmed what we knew had to be the case, that his solidity was an illusion, and what we were seeing was only a flat image.
Four cars were parked outside Old Shire Hall, each filled with artificial flowers and lit from within in a different matching colour: this was called 'Greenhouse Effect' and "asks us to reconsider our reliance on cards and the catastrophic effect this has on the environment." A neon cage outside the County Court probably signified something, too. Elvet Methodist Church looked particularly splendid, its spire pointing up at the moon. We doubled back to Palace Green to watch the son et lumière at the cathedral, which was still as splendid as the first time we saw it, in 2009. By the time it ended, though, we were chilled through, and too weary to join the queue - so we never saw the lights in the cathedral or the frocks in the cloister. Instead, after a brief and bad-tempered detour into the College, we came home.
The plan for this first foray was just to see what we could; on Saturday we chose two locations to visit. The first was El Sol, a cluster of tents laid out in the shape of a treble clef between County Hall and the DLI. We parked at County Hall, and headed for where the trees were glowing green and purple:
The tents were lit from within, and most contained the figure of a musician (well, all right, a cardboard cut-out); you could go inside some of them, and use speaking tubes. I don't know if this affected the music, which was sometimes classic brass band sounds, sometimes demented Swanee whistling - but the children were having a grand time darting in and out of tents waving the glowing wands and wearing the glowing rabbits ears provided by street vendors in town (these were probably tacky, but they were bright and colourful and I liked them). It may have been no more than this ability to wander through the installation that made El Sol my favourite of all we saw.
We relocated to the Science site to see Solar Equation, the world's largest spherical helium balloon (it says here):
which, well, yes, it was as promised, a very big balloon. I liked it best just glimpsed from the road, its sphere echoed by the circle of an iris projected onto the library wall, the moon poised between them. Proximity didn't add anything.
If I'd done my homework, I might at this point have demanded to go to St Oswald's churchyard and see the illuminated birdhouses (Sarah Blood's 'Sanctuary', a new commission for the festival, which was a large part of its appeal); or I might not. As it was, I turned downdurham_rambler's offer to drop me at the end of the North Road for a second visit to the installations there. Time to go home and eat sausages.
We walked into town on Thursday evening, and then took the car yesterday to visit a couple of the less central installations. But first:
One of the best things was not, technically, part of the show. There was a magnificent full moon, and it kept edging into shot. Here it is caught up in a tree which seems to be floodlit for no apparent reason (the light should have been behind me at this point, as I had my back to the viaduct which later came out in green and purple lights - but not yet). Mysteriously, this is the most viewed of all the pictures I posted to Flickr.
The first actual installation we came to was a flock of brightly coloured watering cans suspended above the North Road roundabout, pouring filaments of fibre optic water onto the grass. It's called 'Guardian Angels' - I don't know why. A little further on, a team of stick figures were storming the frontage of the old Miners' Hall, to musical accompaniment:
The artists' website says "Sound is a mix of old miners songs, coalmine sounds, struggle and strikes voices, and deep basses coming from inside the disco" but while we watched, it was Working in a coalmine, which amused me.
A telephone box in the Market Place had been transformed into an aquarium: I was expecting this to be some sort of representation, but no, through the crowd clustered around it I could see real fish swimming in the pale blue light - if it was an illusion, it was a good one. Then again - but no, I'll get to that later! We were heading for the 'hub', the information point in Millennium Place, but we might as well not have bothered: by the time we reached there, we had already been given maps, and they didn't have any information to add - indeed,
durham_rambler was able to tell the very pleasant young woman on the counter that one installation had been deferred because of high winds: he had picked up an e-mail alert from the local paper, which she knew nothing about. Still, it was a chance to check our watches:'Helvetictoc', projected onto the wall of the library, repeated from Lumiere 2011. We could see the lights projected onto Milburngate House across the river, but walked instead towards Elvet Bridge, past the Prince Bishops' shopping centre where something ingenious had been done with illuminated carried bags strung across the road, past the sign across Saddler Street proclaiming it A PLACE BEYOND BELIEF (which I might have thought an interesting comment on the approach to the cathedral had I not previously seen the same piece behind the Pier Art Gallery on Stromness Harbour), down towards the extraordinary noises coming from Elvet Bridge, which were apparently being made by an elephant:
Not that we saw this view straight away: approaching from the Market Place, we had a magnificent view of the elephant's backside, as he swung his head to and fro and trumpeted. We had to pass under the arch, below those trampling feet, to see the beast head on - which at least confirmed what we knew had to be the case, that his solidity was an illusion, and what we were seeing was only a flat image.
Four cars were parked outside Old Shire Hall, each filled with artificial flowers and lit from within in a different matching colour: this was called 'Greenhouse Effect' and "asks us to reconsider our reliance on cards and the catastrophic effect this has on the environment." A neon cage outside the County Court probably signified something, too. Elvet Methodist Church looked particularly splendid, its spire pointing up at the moon. We doubled back to Palace Green to watch the son et lumière at the cathedral, which was still as splendid as the first time we saw it, in 2009. By the time it ended, though, we were chilled through, and too weary to join the queue - so we never saw the lights in the cathedral or the frocks in the cloister. Instead, after a brief and bad-tempered detour into the College, we came home.
The plan for this first foray was just to see what we could; on Saturday we chose two locations to visit. The first was El Sol, a cluster of tents laid out in the shape of a treble clef between County Hall and the DLI. We parked at County Hall, and headed for where the trees were glowing green and purple:
The tents were lit from within, and most contained the figure of a musician (well, all right, a cardboard cut-out); you could go inside some of them, and use speaking tubes. I don't know if this affected the music, which was sometimes classic brass band sounds, sometimes demented Swanee whistling - but the children were having a grand time darting in and out of tents waving the glowing wands and wearing the glowing rabbits ears provided by street vendors in town (these were probably tacky, but they were bright and colourful and I liked them). It may have been no more than this ability to wander through the installation that made El Sol my favourite of all we saw.
We relocated to the Science site to see Solar Equation, the world's largest spherical helium balloon (it says here):
which, well, yes, it was as promised, a very big balloon. I liked it best just glimpsed from the road, its sphere echoed by the circle of an iris projected onto the library wall, the moon poised between them. Proximity didn't add anything.
If I'd done my homework, I might at this point have demanded to go to St Oswald's churchyard and see the illuminated birdhouses (Sarah Blood's 'Sanctuary', a new commission for the festival, which was a large part of its appeal); or I might not. As it was, I turned down
durham_rambler's offer to drop me at the end of the North Road for a second visit to the installations there. Time to go home and eat sausages.
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no subject
Date: 2013-11-19 12:16 am (UTC)I like the scene-stealer moon.
no subject
Date: 2013-11-19 09:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-19 12:45 am (UTC)It's so fashionable to have light festivals these days!
I still like the Canberra one, but that's because it's very mildly transgressive - it takes public monuments and turns them into playing fields for artists.
no subject
Date: 2013-11-19 09:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-20 08:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-20 09:07 am (UTC)And I am constantly proved wrong.
no subject
Date: 2013-11-19 03:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-19 09:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-19 08:16 am (UTC)Collier songs? Know more than a few of those.
'Close the coal 'ouse door loov,
There's blood inside and bones inside and bairns inside
So stay outside'................
no subject
Date: 2013-11-19 09:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-20 02:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-20 09:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-19 09:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-19 11:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-19 12:47 pm (UTC)The late Stan Rogers was a bit good at it!