Introduction Mary works at the little bakery around the corner and I can see her smiling at her customers every single morning when I‘m heading off to work. She always seems so happy and like someone I would love to get to know better, but after a long day in work, I have forgotten about her already and return to my home as always. Do you know Mary?
Maybe we should take a minute and think about the people we meet in our lives on a daily basis, but in reality know nothing about. Are they happy? Are they struggling? Where have they been last month? Where will they be tomorrow?
How much do we really know about each other?
This festival should not only give them an opportunity to take a break from their routine, but also the chance to connect with new people and hear them out. We should make more of an effort to engage with our fellow men and build a community where every-one can participate and
contribute. We wouldn‘t be where we are now if we would have kept quiet and only isolated ourselves. This community is built on the principle of exchange and thus enabling development and new opportunites. This festival is about life and the mistakes we‘ve made which made us what we are now: human. We are not alone in this world and sometimes we forget, that there are other people out there, having similar troubles, fears, hopes and dreams.
It’s time to share a piece of our lives together with each other.
Concept Everyone living in Edinburgh can submit their personal story until a certain deadline online or via mail. In addition to their original text, they also have to explain what would‘ve been different if they had done something another way at one point. The outcome may be positive or negative. This is particularly important for the actual light installation, because it gives then the opportunity to include features for interaction. The audience can participate in the story by changing the outcome and then deciding for themselves if it is reality or fiction.
We have all asked ourselves “What if...?� at some point.
story
After revision, a selection of the submitted stories will be handed over to the designers, who applied to participate in the festival before.
reality
fiction
The pieces that have not been selected will be published anonymously online on a website. People can exchange their thoughts about the story in a monitored comment section or message board. Every story should be acknowledged, wether it will be at all visualised or, due to lack of space, not.
There are no further restrictions for the artists and their light installations, except that they have to implement some sort of interaction to allow the viewer to make a decision about the further plot.
Dunbar‘s Close Garden hidden within the close today, this garden is laid out in the character of the 17th century donated to the City of Edinburgh by the Mushroom Trust in 1978
Festival Plan The main event will take place in the Dunbar‘s Close Gardens, a public park which is beautifully designed and brings enough space for people to come together. Therefore the route will be from the North- and Southbridge on, along the bus route 35, towards the west, down Canongate, with a few gathering points in between.
Promotion Posters and Flyers will be visible all over the city to create awareness for the festival and its colours and patterns. A few days before and during the festival, additional information will be sticked on the posters to remind people of the event. Social media will also be integrated in the advertising campaign. Via Facebook and Twitter, people will be updated frequently and can also post pictures or comments about their visit to the festival. The design of the posters and flyers is reduced to the logo, colour scheme variation and patterns of the festival brand. Essential information will be displayed, such as what kind of festival, date, location and website. The audience should ideally be intrigued about the festival, so that they can find out on their own what it is about and not be overloaded with information.
A short film summarising the festival in the end will be published online to share some moments with those, who couldn’t visit and to promote future festivals with the same storytelling theme.
Light & Sound Festival in Edinburgh 15 – 17 January 2016
Website & Social Media Visitors and artists can access every important information about the festival programme and the locations on the website. The stories can also be submitted online and made available for open discussions. The artists will have their own internal login, where they can track the progress on their assigned story for the light installations. Social media will also be utilised to advertise the festival and give the audience an opportunity to engage and give feedback.
A responsive version of the website for mobile phones and tablets will also be available.
Research There are several Light and Sound Festivals in the world. On the following pages, we will take a look at four of the most known Festivals in Europe and some light installation inspirations.
Europe Berlin, Germany Chartre, France Brussels, Belgium Durham, England Eindhoven, Netherlands Ghent, Belgium Helsinki, Finland Tallin, Estland Turin, Italy York, England Prague, Czech Republic
Festival of Light Chartres en Lumières Festival des Lumieres Lumiere Glow Light Festival Ghent Lux Helsinki Valgus Biennaal Luci d‘artista Illuminating York Signal
Middle East Jerusalem, Israel
Lights in Jerusalem
Asia Singapore, Singapore Beijing, China Osaka, Japan
iLight Marina Bay Switch on Light Hikari Renaissance
Australia Sydney, Australia
Vivid Sydney
North America New York, USA Montreal, Canada
New York Festival of Light MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE
Fête des Lumières Lyon, France numerous and impressive projects with large-scale installations, including coloured and dynamic lighting ø 1 million visitors / day (reported by LUCI, 2010)
The festival is derived from a 17th century Catholic procession where the city was struck by a plague in 1643. Therefore, as an expression of gratitude to Mary, a procession to the Basilica of Fourvière took place with lighted candles. People also light up their windows by placing a candle on their windowsills on December 8. The festival includes other activities based on light and usually lasts 4 days, with the majority of activity occurring on the 8th of December. The two main focal points of activity are typically the Basilica of Fourvière which is lit up in different colours, and the Place des Terreaux, which hosts a different light show each year.
Luminale Frankfurt, Germany 140.000 visitors in 2012 international media coverage due to intense public relations programm
The Luminale has been held every two years since 2002, alongside the Light+Building, the largest trade fair for lighting. Designers, artists and manufacturers are all in one room – this opens up new possibilites for the venue and strenghtens the network and collaborations. The concept focuses more on being an open platform for various light installations, rather than being a carefully curated fine art exhibition.
Light in Alingsås Alingsås, Sweden 1999 they had only 20.000 habitants, now they have 40.000 residents held in October, and thus the most successful month of the year technical transformation towards LED lighting
It started in 2002 as an educational programme. Students had the opportunity to learn about outdoor lighting from leading lighting experts within one week workshops where they were supported by the teachers to achieve good aesthetic quality. The festival includes guided tours, performances, as well as classes in garen and home lighting. The development of technologies changed the structure and content slowly over the years, coming from incandescent light bulb to reflector halogen to LED lighting – from analogue to digital. In addition, the content broadend from architectural lighting to telling a story.
LichtRouten L端denscheid, Germany historical light installations present and document the development of light art over time to maintain high quality, the organisers involve the local lighting manufactureres network between municipality, companies and citizens
The festival has a long tradition of lighting due to several local lighting manufacturers and a lighting institute. Since 2002, two curators select high-quality, artistic light-based installations and intereventions for their LichtRouten forum. It is a mix of large-scale projects for public squares and small installations in private rooms that offer reinterpretations of familiar spaces and the opportunity to discover less known sites in the city.
Branding
Colours The colour scheme for the festival is a rather muted palette, but still bright and variable for different back-grounds and occasions. It consists of different shades to support the spacial feeling of the logo and help to create depth.
Typography & Logo Franklin Gothic URW is used for the body text and for the headers, Franklin Gothic URW Compressed. The two typefaces can also be used as display fonts and not only for print. The logo and patterns are custom made and work with different backgrounds and colour variations. The depth of the logo symbolises the spacial aspect of the festival and was intended to be seen as light streaks against a darker background.
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Stephanie Kawan Edinburgh Napier University Design & Digital Arts Studio 2 2014