The 2011 Lumiere festival, held in Durham (England), is one of the highlights of the city’s calendar. It’s a great chance to explore some imaginative works of modern art as installations are put up around the city. Each evening the installations are lit up and you are invited to walk around a transformed landscape. The whole event is one big festival of light which transforms a cold, dark northern town, being thrown into the grip of winter, into a buzzing little creative metropolis.
The "Crown of Light" by Ross Ashton, Robert Ziegler, and John Del'Nero (UK) projected the Lindisfarne Gospels onto Durham Cathedral. This was a marvellous and atmospheric achievement, bringing to life one of the country's most loved and oldest cathedrals.
"I Love Durham" by Jacques Rival (France) transformed the controversial statue of the Marquess of Londonderry in Durham Market Square into a giant child's snowglobe. This was a playful and tongue-in-cheek exhibit, bringing out the inner child in everyone."I Love Durham"
"Pimp Pallets" by David Batchelor (UK) breathed new life into industrial waste. Dotted around Saddler Street, they provided food for thought on our wasteful society and what we think is aesthetically pleasing"The Wonderwood" by Walter Holt (UK) lit up the woodland around the river. Green lighting on autumnal trees was really wonderful, as it made you believe that it was spring already!"Les Voyageurs" by Cédric Le Borgne (France) were a series of surreal, supernatural sculptures of figures flying along the South Bailey.Durham's answer to the Mermaid of Copenhagen?"Splash" by Peter Lewis (Canada) was conceptually spectacular. He transformed an otherwise aesthetically ugly bridge (but we should remember that Kingsgate Bridge does hold an award for being a "Mature Concrete Structure") into a sight of natural beauty. If only it could be such a stunning waterfall all year round!
Enchanting as these installations are, I couldn’t help but feel that it was not modern art that stole the show on the evening I attended. There was a huge number of visitors that night, but they all demonstrated the art of queuing. Now, the British are well-known for turning queuing into a fine art, but I think that the level of patience and mutual consideration was exceptional. While we queued for up to an hour to see some installations, the crowd never pushed or rushed along; there was always a sense of care for your fellow visitor. And when I queued for over an hour down by the river banks, strangers helped each other out when coping with prams and small children on a muddy riverbank. It was this sense of community spirit that was a credit to everyone involved, and was the best work of art that evening.
P.S. Many thanks to Ms Simi Sehgal for being highly informative on the different spellings of “Diwali” 🙂
Living in the countryside on the Nottinghamshire border, so proud to call this beautiful corner of Britain home. I started this blog over ten years ago - but it feels like yesterday! Visit my blog to see some beautiful pictures. View all posts by Lauren | The Lady in Waiting
10 thoughts on “Durham’s Diwali”
I went around the cathedral again on Friday night with MW, and then down across Prebends and along the riverbank – I didn’t get home (or anything to eat) until after 9:30pm, but it was worth it. Great show! (if terribly, terribly busy.)
I think the fire sculptures in the Cathedral College were my favourites (did you take any photos?) – really exciting and, to quote the Guardian, ‘like something out of a Hieronymous Bosch painting’. The whole things was excellent – I went on Saturday evening – though it was very busy indeed it was still worth the wait and well marshalled.
I didn’t get to see the fire sculptures in the end – I went on Saturday evening too, and I walked to the left of the Cathedral after the Crown of Light disaply and missed them 😦 Glad you enjoyed them though! It was really excellent, wasn’t it? I was very impressed by how the managed such huge crowds. A big plus was that it wasn’t raining 🙂
It is always difficult to get knowledgeable individuals for this issue, however you sound like you are aware of what you are writing on! Thx get a blog get-a-blog
The Lady in Waiting 
I went around the cathedral again on Friday night with MW, and then down across Prebends and along the riverbank – I didn’t get home (or anything to eat) until after 9:30pm, but it was worth it. Great show! (if terribly, terribly busy.)
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It was a great show wasn’t it? Incredibly busy, but well worth it 🙂
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I think the fire sculptures in the Cathedral College were my favourites (did you take any photos?) – really exciting and, to quote the Guardian, ‘like something out of a Hieronymous Bosch painting’. The whole things was excellent – I went on Saturday evening – though it was very busy indeed it was still worth the wait and well marshalled.
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I didn’t get to see the fire sculptures in the end – I went on Saturday evening too, and I walked to the left of the Cathedral after the Crown of Light disaply and missed them 😦 Glad you enjoyed them though! It was really excellent, wasn’t it? I was very impressed by how the managed such huge crowds. A big plus was that it wasn’t raining 🙂
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Finally a person that puts some real work into a blog. I do like what you have done with the blog.
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Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed reading this post 🙂
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It is always difficult to get knowledgeable individuals for this issue, however you sound like you are aware of what you are writing on! Thx get a blog get-a-blog
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Thanks for reading 🙂
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puentesngo.org
Appears to be like Nice. You must be very smart! puentesngo.org
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The “I love Durham” snowglobe did tour around France, and was a big hit at Lyon (“I love Lyon” instead). Thansk for reading 🙂
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