Licht Festival Gent...
As veteran light festival goers, and serial complainers about their content and lack of direction, we are delighted to report that we have just returned from an excellent one.
Last week saw Light Collective participate in the Gent Licht Festival in Belgium and we had a good nose around the other installations in the city also.
Now in its second year, the festival ran for three days and was limited to 29 installations. There was no sprawling mass of Lyon/Luminale pieces and a close eye was placed on quality control. And only a three and a half hour drive from London, this is one to watch.
The installations were a mix between professional and student pieces, and were located within the historical city centre. This year it attracted a total of 500,000 visitors over four days – we certainly met a few of them on the Friday night!
The following three were our favourites:
Firstly, the Luminarie De Cagna – a kitsch and OTT street canopy of multi-coloured LEDs. Almost Vegas, a bit Brighton Pavilion and extremely bright, this installation was a favourite with the crowds and stood out for its crazy boldness. It’s also been getting quite a bit of coverage on Twitter.
Next up, Light Wish by Guillaume Van Durme and Stef Bammens. This was a lo-fi installation using glow sticks. Passers-by could purchase a glow stick for 50 cents and weave it into a fence along the river.
The proceeds went to the Make a Wish foundation and the simple idea was made more poignant by the fact that the glow sticks at the start of the fence, from the day before, had lost their glow and the brightness varied from the time they were put in place. A beautiful example of crowd interaction.
Then there was the usual plethora of large format projection, including the story telling graphics on a beautiful old building; a modern piece with projected people interacting and climbing the facade of a white building; an interactive shape making projection on the side of a church; and a nice new take – kids drawings projected on the castle. This one was by Gravensteen and definitely brought a smile to the faces of most of the spectators.
Lastly, we really liked the ingenuity of the Beam Tree by Arf and Yes. Their piece consisted of a tree of narrow beam LED sources. Visitors were given a mirror each and the opportunity to explore the interior of a pitch black cathedral using reflected light. Beautiful…
Our next festival is iLight Marina Bay – will it be as good? It’s got a lot to live up to!
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