Lumiere Durham
City lights
Cloud
Record numbers flooded into Durham to see its Lumiere
T
he organiser of Lumiere Durham has hailed the event a success after an estimated 200,000 people attended the world-class festival of light. Durham County Council commissioned the fourth edition of the popular festival, which ran over four nights, and contracted Artichoke to produce the 29 light sculptures and installations that were spread across the city. From November 12-15, the city became a hub for international artists and arts professionals to showcase extraordinary installations that used fog, projection, light and imagery to create a series of interactive experiences. Audiences braved the elements in order to discover a 3D whale in the River Wear, a ghostly fog beneath Durham Cathedral, and a Cloud; a “raincloud” made up of thousands of bulbs. “I’m thrilled with the response to this year’s programme,” commented Helen Marriage, director of Artichoke, the creative production company behind the Lumiere. “Judging from the reaction of the public on the streets and on social media, people have loved it, and the rain did nothing to dampen spirits.
“I’ve been told of overheard conversations between people engaged in debating art and its extraordinary power to make you think and feel differently. This is why we do the things we do and I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to know that we have succeeded.” Marriage was supported on Lumiere by Ian Bone, production manager and Dan Adams, technical manager, and Durham County Council’s Kate James (festival and events manager), Terry Collins (in charge of operations) and Dave Lewin, who had responsibility for traffic. Julian Bentley, associate director at MRL Safety also assisted Artichoke by providing event safety services to the festival, which in 2013 delivered £5.8 million in economic benefit to the city. This year’s festival saw a few changes, Marriage continued: “Each time we create a Lumiere, we do it differently. This time we created a different pattern and created more of a walking trail alongside the waterside. Also, more than half of the installations were located outside of the city centre area so that they could be visited without a ticket.” To ensure an enjoyable visitor experience, the event operated a ticketed
system during busy periods. This limited access to the city centre between 4.30pm and 7.30pm. Marriage commented further: “This year Lumiere Durham saw an increase in audience figures. The weather was very wet and rainy apart from the Sunday, when 54,000 attended the festival. “In terms of feedback, the artists told me that Lumiere’s production values were very high and the audience said that Lumiere changed the way that they view the city – this matters to me. “Events like Lumiere take away the normal functions of a city so that it’s used in a different way and that’s an interesting experiment,” she concluded.
SUPPLIERS LIST: Power – Aggreko Projectors and projection – QED Productions Rigging – Unusual Rigging Health and safety – MRL Safety Security – Showsec Traffic management – Event Traffic Control
event
buyers 24-25 FEB 2016
15