Last Lumiere all set for weekend switch on
Flowers, fish and singing ladies await
Many of you will be preparing to go on manoeuvres this weekend as the ninth, and almost certainly last, Lumiere festival of light-based art draws the crowds to Durham.
As any Lumiere veteran will know, it’s something you must gear yourself up for mentally and physically.
Glorious though it is, Durham has been posing challenges since the monks laid down the remains of St Cuthbert on the spot where a great cathedral would eventually rise to contain them.
Woe betide any pilgrim in centuries to come who set off without warm undergarments, sensible footwear and a fortifying supply of vittles.
And the same goes for Lumiere visitors as they negotiate ancient bridges and some fairly unforgiving pathways and gradients.
There may be rain. One year there was a freeze. There will certainly be crowds, good natured generally as they shuffle gamely around the place.
Snazzy photo opportunities will abound. So will helpful volunteers. Loos, bitter experience informs me, will be few and far between.
On Wednesday night there was a sort of dress rehearsal, chance for some technical fine-tuning and for media folk to survey a select few of the installations ahead of Thursday’s first big night.
So there we were, maps and camera phones at the ready as we headed off into a light drizzle to see what Lumiere producers Artichoke have lined up for us in the darkness this time around.
In Millennium Place, between Gala Theatre and library, is the ominously named Point Of No Return, Norwegian artist Anastasia Isachsen’s piece which responds to the movements of the viewer.
It boasts a soundtrack by Nils Petter Molvœr and is said to “create a shift in awareness – an emotional pause where we reconsider our role in the larger world”.
Sadly it was a bit too early in proceedings for dwelling on such weighty matters, so we moved on to the Market Place where some sort of laser warfare appeared to be in progress.
This was Rhizome, by Belgian collective Bobolito & Co, and its mission to “transform space into a dynamic environment” was going great guns, overlooked by the statue of the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry on his horse.
In a corner beside the entrance to Durham Town Hall, a little screen on wheels was flashing messages designed to get under our skin.
“GOODBYE ARCTIC ICE,” it chirruped merrily, before declaring “TRIASSIC WEATHER AHEAD”, “REDUCE SPEED NOW” and “GLOBAL WARMING AT WORK”.
American artist Justin Brice Guariglia’s Entanglement Is Existential (II), according to the programme, “re-contextualises language to challenge viewers’ expectations and redirect their focus toward the ecological crisis”.
It won’t be letting grass grow under its wheels at Lumiere with its location given as “various sites”. That’s probably wise. But there’s no escaping the messages. They’ll get you wherever you go.
To the cathedral, always a highlight. And Palace Green – wow, just wow – has been transformed by UK-based Jigantics into Elysium Garden, seemingly a monumental recreation of the set of some half-remembered kids’ TV show.
There are shades there (for us older folk) of The Magic Roundabout. For the relative youngsters, say, The Teletubbies or In The Night Garden, which is about as recent as my knowledge goes.
It’s beautiful, setting the cathedral as the centrepiece of an overblown floral display with huge and colourful blooms. Nobody was not photographing this conveyor of sensory overload.
Then into the cathedral itself where the seating has been cleared from the nave, the better to appreciate a rather subtle intervention by Elaine Buckholtz and Ian Winters who style themselves Nighthouse Studio.
Called Everyone Ever, it throws swirling patterns across the soaring internal architecture to an accompanying majestic soundtrack.
Whereas the blooms outside provide an instant sugar rush, this one invites a bit of quiet contemplation. I predict not everyone will be bowled over but I suggest its qualities take a little time to impress.
But how many will afford it that when a cloister full of lanterns awaits outside?
Amelia Kosminsky’s Solace is another crowd pleaser, its handmade components hanging like drops of honey amid the cathedral’s dark walls.
Outside in the rain, falling more heavily now, we strained our eyes at Jony Easterby’s The Garden of Shadows where lights amid the trees settle every now and again into the loose outlines of figures.
It was inspired, so we’re told, by his art residency at a Jacobean farmhouse. Those folk in the trees did seem to be wielding scythes and other tools of the time.
But this wasn’t the only one of Jony’s creations to animate the route from cathedral to river.
There were colourful light boxes showing various grasses arranged in front of St Mary’s Church and further down South Bailey fireflies seemed to be doing a manic dance among the trees.
On a steepish path to the left, I nearly jumped out of my skin as the first of a long line of little speakers suddenly burst into song.
There’s a row of them on each side, each emitting eerie snatches of the same folk number belted out by a woman who you imagine might inhabit some lonely, Rapunzel-type garret.
The same repeated refrain, rising and falling, follows you hauntingly to more light boxes amid the damp vegetation.
Here the wonderful eccentricity of Lumiere is perfectly manifested. It could send you slightly mad.
Finally, across Prebends Bridge to see French artist Cédric Le Borgne’s The River – except it’s not a river but a trio of giant koi carp swimming gracefully among the trees, and now shimmering in the rain.
It’s more Lumiere eye candy, a perfect reminder of what we have enjoyed over the years from this wonderful biennial festival.
Durham has been a beautifully atmospheric location – although this year there are also Lumiere artworks on show at Locomotion, the National Railway Museum at Shildon.
A final tip for weekend visitors. On Wednesday night we didn’t get to Crook Hall, the National Trust property beside the river, but it’s the site of three lovely looking Lumiere installations.
I’d recommend taking a trip to see Conduit by Mani Kambo, Glimmer by Laura Brenchley and Flutter by Emma Allen.
Lumiere is open to the public over three nights, from Thursday (November 13) until Saturday (November 15). Details from the Lumiere Festival website… and mind how you go!