London's biggest ever light festival - Lumiere London 2016
- Sabiha Siddiqa Nijhum
- Jun 11, 2016
- 3 min read
Are you a festival lover? Love to explore different sort of festival. Than you must attend this one festival, if you live in London or not, Lumiere London is one of the capital’s largest-ever light festivals that took place once in year in London is big that one will have no idea if they don’t witness in person. The lighting is so beautiful that one would think they are in a different planet. It creates a heavenly environment with the variation of colorful lighting where artists from all over the world gather to make it even more attractive. My article in the magazine describes the festival in detail for readers who like festivals.
United Kingdom, one of the most significant state in the history of human civilization, has a rich heritage of culture and history. Global dominance and spreading the concept of freedom made it a proud nation. Freedom and the concern for human rights is at the top of the priority of this nation. Consequently, its culture has always accommodated festivals and events that demonstrated the practical implementation of freedom and human rights (Wu and Ai, 2015). Therefore, the number of festivals celebrated each year in United Kingdom are many. For example, some of the major festivals of 2016 are Trooping the Colour, Blackpool Illuminations, Notting Hill Carnival, York Food and Drink Festival, Golowan Festival, Lord Mayor's Show, Lumiere London etc.
The people of UK have been always enthusiastically participated in these festivals. Thousands and even millions join and celebrate these festivals. The belief in democratic values and disposition of these values is the cornerstone of their fascination towards these festivals. For example, Lumiere London 2016 festivals drew more than one million spectators to the streets of London (Lumiere, 2016).
Lumiere is produced by Artichoke with the support of the Mayor of London. Having a mission to invade public spaces and locations with surprising and ambitious art, Artichoke was founded in 2005. With a reputation for groundbreaking and bold outdoor arts events, Artichoke continues to produce spectacular Lumiere festivals (Artichoke.uk.com, 2016).
The Lumiere London 2016 festival illuminated the city that brought together a fabulous and spectacular array of artists. 30 installations changed the capital city into a magical playground in St James’s and Carnaby, King’s Cross, Piccadilly, Regent Street, Leicester Square. Around 20 pioneering international artists illuminated certain of the city’s most famous locations and buildings by using the city as their canvas. To uphold the London's status as a world dominating and leading cultural hub, a major outdoor display of creativity took place. Lumiere festival unfolded capital’s hidden beauty and secrets bathing London in a completely different magical light!
Some of the spectacular art installations include LED stickmen, a life-size 3D elephant, giant fish, floating human figures and stars. Festival highlights include: Garden of Light, TILT (France); 1.8 London, Janet Echelman (US); 1.8 London, Janet Echelman (US); Aquarium, Benedetto Bufalino (France); Les Voyageurs, Cedric Le Borgne (France); Joining the Dots, Clearly Connolly (Ireland/France);Binary Waves, LAb[au] (Belgium); Circus of Light, Ocubu (Portugal); Litre of Light, Mick Stephenson (UKZ); Platonic Spin, Nathaniel Rackowe (UK) (visitlondon.com, 2016).
Artichoke, the producer of the show, stated its desire to repeat it in the other cities of UK. According to business owners, trade and business was increased over 10% in certain areas and footfall was increased by over 25%.
The slogan of the lumiere festival -“See the city in different light” attracted the city’s people. The opportunity to see central London transformed with interactive installations, 3D projections and other awesome light works was completely free! Such a wonderful festival but free to join and see! No sane people should miss such a great and historic show.
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