When the weather cools, the city is a little more silent at night. How to light up the city's nightlife?
From Lyon to London, from Berlin to Amsterdam, many of Europe's major cities have opted for the City Lights Festival, an eye-opening event.
In the eyes of industry insiders, the art of light and shadow is easy to understand, dazzling, and has an incomparable ornamentation and a wide social foundation. The holding of the City Light Festival will not only help promote the development of the city's cultural and creative industries, but also reflect the humanistic spirit of the city and help the city's brand building.
The experience of the Lyon Light Festival in France and the Lumiere Light Festival in the United Kingdom may bring some thoughts.
Other cities are "asking for cooperation"
Before its global fame, the Lyon Festival of Lights was a regional religious festival that usually started on December 8 and lasted for 4 days.
Its origins are legendary: in 1852, when the Lyonians were rebuilding the cathedral bell tower and recreating the gilded bronze statue of the Virgin Mary, the River Thorne suddenly swelled, and the commemoration had to be postponed until December 8. However, on the same day, Lyon suddenly fell heavily. Surprisingly, by the end of the evening, the sky was magically clear again. Excited Lyonians lit candles in front of the windows and took to the streets to sing and dance, and the candlelight of the city continued until the next morning. Since then, 8 December has been designated as the starting day of the Lyon Festival of Lights.
During the Festival of Lights, every household in Lyon places candles lit outside their windows to create the effect of "candlelight all over the street". Candles are also displayed in local religious and public places such as Notre-Dame de Fourvière and Place des Verdes.
The change happened in 1980. At that time, the Lyon MunicipalIty successfully implemented the "City Light Plan", which officially stipulated the Lyon Light Festival as a 4-day megacity festival. The Urban Light Plan clearly states that lighting is no longer just a role in lighting, but has become an important part of creating urban landscapes, and it is necessary to support the festival from all levels of politics, technology and art. In 1989, the Municipality of Lyon launched an initiative and tender for artists to make the Festival of Lights a large-scale international art event of a public character.
The Festival of Lights has not only made Lyon famous in the field of lighting art, but also led to the rapid development of the lighting industry in this area. In 2002, the International Association of Light Cities was founded in Lyon. The association is committed to bringing together experts in the field of international lighting, and the members of the organization use lighting as a tool for sustainable urban development and a social and economic means. After its establishment, the association attracted members from more than 70 cities on four continents. They come from a variety of roles, from company executives to architects, academics, to engineers and researchers in the lighting industry. To some extent, these people also make up the think tank and talent pool of the Lyon Light Festival.
Lyon Festival of Lights. Xinhua News Agency
In recent years, with the increasing number of tourists participating in the Festival of Lights, the Municipality of Lyon has gradually developed this festival into a city brand promotion activity, on the one hand, focusing on the popularity of the Festival to show the overall style of the city, on the other hand, inviting foreign press delegations to visit, taking this opportunity to promote Lyon's cultural activities, tourism development, urban planning, etc. Local officials believe that "during the Festival of Lights, visitors can enjoy the scenery and cuisine of Lyon, feel the cultural atmosphere and economic vitality of Lyon, attract them to return to Lyon, visit again or carry out commercial activities, and use the Festival of Lights to enhance the city's overall attractiveness."
The success of Lyon has led many other cities to come to the door to "ask for cooperation". In an interview with the media, the staff of the Lyon Light Festival mentioned that the Lyon Light Festival has now become a benchmark in the industry, and the team is often invited by other cities around the world to help plan and organize the Light Festival. It is reported that at present, the Lyon Light Festival team has cooperated with the light festivals of nearly 20 cities around the world to provide professional support in terms of venue selection and work control.
Use landmarks and waterfronts as runways
There are so many cities that do light art festivals, why does Lyon stand out?
Make use of landmarks. When you think of Paris, you think of the Eiffel Tower, when you think of London, you think of Big Ben, and the most memorable memories of the city are often landmark buildings, which are the business cards and symbols of the city. The Festival of Lights uses light and shadow as a means to create a visual feast, and landmark buildings are the best stages and curtains.
Lyon has long been using landmark building resources. One of Lyon's most famous attractions, Notre-Dame de Fourvière, towers over the mountainside of Mount Fourviere on the west bank of the Lyon-Saône River, built in the 19th century on the site of a Roman square. During the Franco-Prussian War, the people of Lyon built the Church of Our Lady in prayer for victory in the war. The exterior is a fusion of Byzantine and medieval styles, decorated in marble, with glass shining with colorful patterns, and exquisite mosaics and frescoes. In one performance, the artist turned it into a performance venue for the highlight of the Festival of Lights, giving the church a different look at night. Looking across the Saône River, the church and the surrounding jungle are constantly illuminated from all angles by different colors of light, and the mysterious and psychedelic lights seem to transport the viewer back to ancient times. Subsequently, the silhouette of The Montfivelles is illuminated by lights, heralding the arrival of a new era in Lyon. At the end of the performance, the artist projected the figures of different postures onto the Hill of Fourvière, expressing the idea that the people who worked hard to build Lyon deserve to be remembered by more people.
Make good use of the waterfront. The waters give birth to cities and urban cultures and are an important factor in urban development. Most of the world's most famous cities rise and fall with a famous river. The urban waterfront is an important part of the urban public open space, and is an area with both natural scenery and artificial landscape in the urban public open space, which is particularly important for the city. Every year, Lyon uses the banks of the Saône as the key areas of the design of the Festival of Lights.
The 2010 work Eolight is a typical example. The designers imitated the shape of the windmill and designed a large light and shadow device, placing them on the riverbank at different heights, as if the breeze on the riverbank blew the windmill from a distance, bringing a very good sense of visual rhythm. Colorful windmills are reflected on the water, successfully attracting people to the shore. People get close to the water while admiring the colors of light and shadow. This method of making full use of natural resources and integrating the artificially built environment with the local natural environment enhances the intimacy between people and the waterfront space, and to some extent emphasizes the regulatory role of natural open space in the urban environment.
Give young people a chance. After years of development, the Lyon Light Festival has become an exchange event for the art of light and shadow. It is worth mentioning that it not only invites masters from all over the world to participate in the exhibition, but also opens its arms to young artists. The Festival of Lights has set up a special area for young artists, providing opportunities for students from France and other countries and regions majoring in art, architecture, design and other majors, and encouraging them to participate in competitions led by the organizers. Such participation also provides convenience for the discovery of young artistic talents. In Lyon, in addition to the flagship projects, which are mostly written by senior artists, the other street works projects are mostly designed by emerging artists.
"Snatched away" by London for being too successful
Some people may not know that Britain's premier Lumiere Light Festival was "robbed" by London.
The Lumiere Light Festival originated in 2009 with an event commissioned by the City of Durham in the United Kingdom to the British cultural and creative company Artichoke. Modeled after the Lyon Festival of Lights, the event was originally intended to be an art installation display, but was continued due to its popularity. When the first light festival was held, it attracted about 75,000 people to visit, bringing popularity and considerable income to the town.
From 2009 to 2015, the Lumiere Light Festival was held in Durham every two years, from November 12 to November 15. Artichoke, which promotes the Lumiere Festival of Lights, is a non-profit public art production company. Their philosophy is to get art out of theaters, concert halls and galleries, into public spaces.
The success of the Festival of Lights has made London, more than 400 kilometers away from Durham, coveted. In 2016, after coordination and operation, the Lumiere Light Festival moved to London and was renamed the Lumiere London Light Festival. The City of London took this festival as a gift to the public, hoping that through the biennial large-scale light festival, the works of artists from various countries would "change London with lights" and create a different London. Therefore, the Festival of Lights has given London a new taste and connotation, and also allowed all people who come to find a different vitality and charm in the streets of london, the historic capital.
During the festival, London's city squares, landmark buildings, churches, streets, cultural and creative art districts and other different urban public spaces were used, and groups of light installation artworks were fully displayed in the six core areas of London, England. At the 2018 Light Festival, a total of more than 50 groups of light art works appeared in different art forms in the night city, becoming a place for artists to indulge in expression.
Light art installations at the London Light Festival. Xinhua News Agency
Artists use their creations to reshape the city at night, and also change people's perspective on urban space, enhancing people's sense of experience of london city night view. The artist strengthens the shadow of the work and the contrast between light and shadow through direct light, so that the three-dimensional sense of urban space is strengthened; through the characteristics of different lights and the different distribution of brightness, the shape of the work is shaped and the hidden place is weakened; the virtual reality of the space is changed, so that the object and the ground are separated, forming a wonderful space effect of suspension. Various works of light and shadow are constantly changing, turning London into a world of light and shadow art, which fully reflects the charm of the city's creative light.
Like Lyon, London has contributed the city's landmarks for artists to create. During the 2018 Festival of Lights, French light artist Patrick Warren interacted intimately with Westminster Abbey to present a visual feast for the audience.
Westminster Abbey is one of the most majestic and magnificent churches in the world and is considered a masterpiece of English Gothic architecture, with the twin towers to the west of the church reaching 68.6 meters high. Patrick Warren chose this landmark building as the backdrop for his creation. He infused a lot of detail elements, according to the construction of the building, so that the colorful and ever-changing lighting perfectly combined with the reliefs on the building. He incorporated the façade of the monastery's west gate into his style, revealing the details of the carvings through the illumination of light. He casts colorful lights on the carved figures on the walls, as if covering the church with a kaleidoscope. Hardware such as projector equipment and software such as creative design, through a high degree of cooperation, finally achieve a shocking visual effect.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Gong Danyun Text Editor: Wu Yue Title Image Source: Xinhua News Agency
Source: Author: Wu Yue