Entre Terre et Ciel by Airvag
A spectacular multi-sensory celebration of light fusing ancient and modern in Durham
12th – 15th November 2009
For four nights only, UK and international artists will work with light to transform Durham’s historic landmarks, city streets, gardens and riverways into a breathtaking nocturnal landscape of magical happenings.
Producers of extraordinary live events Artichoke, renowned for the spectacular successes, La Machine, The Sultan’s Elephant and Antony Gormley’s Fourth Plinth commission One & Other, announce their latest project – Lumiere – an ambitious and spectacular festival of light for Durham, produced in partnership with Sky Arts.
From the 12th-15th November 2009, the historic city of Durham will provide the stunning canvas for leading international and UK artists and performers to work with light, fusing together sight, sound and movement in a mesmerising series of site-specific installations, new commissions and performances.
In the tradition of the greatest international festivals of light, Lumiere will set Durham ablaze, picking out and transforming the landmarks, streets, river and bridges of the city in new and unimagined ways. Artists include the British-based collective United Visual Artists, international artists Ron Haselden, Simon Corder and Daan Roosegaarde, projection artist Ross Ashton, eminent lighting designer Mark Major, London-based studio Creatmosphere, and French theatrical magicians Quidams, with a magical performance that will lead the audience through the city streets.
Lumiere is part of the 2009 Sky Arts Artichoke Season and forms part of North East England’s world-class programme of festivals and events, developed by culture10.
Supported by Durham County Council, Lumiere is also a measure of Durham’s scale of commitment to developing the city’s cultural offering for its communities and visitors, underlined by the recent announcement of its intention to bid to be the first UK City of Culture in 2013.
“After the success of Enlightenment last year, which attracted 30,000 visitors to the city, the potential was there to create a truly spectacular and inspirational event for Durham as part of our broader cultural offering. We asked Artichoke to produce this year’s festival because of their track record of live events that leave a lasting impression on the people and places they transform.” said Paul Gudgin, creative consultant for Durham’s UK City of Culture 2013 bid.
Artichoke is keeping the exact details of Lumiere under wraps. “The element of surprise and delight is key to what we do” said Helen Marriage, Co-director of Artichoke. “Whether we work with artists who create 50-foot high moving elephants, 42-tonne spiders or tunnels under the Atlantic, all our work is about giving the public unforgettable, magical experiences that make them look at their surroundings in a different way. Durham is a wonderful city, and we’re pleased to have been invited to produce Lumiere there.”
Culture10’s Creative Director, Stella Hall, praised the project’s ambition, saying, “Lumiere will highlight a range of locations in historic Durham this Winter, drawing in visitors and residents alike to explore the city. Audiences will enjoy encounters with many surprising and innovative artworks by a number of internationally recognised artists. Part of our region-wide festivals and events programme, which for 2009 focuses on the North East region’s Landscape & Heritage, we are delighted to be part of the development of Durham’s festival offer towards their aspiration to become UK City of Culture in 2013.”
For Sky Arts, Lumiere fits perfectly with the channel’s mission to bring the arts to the streets of towns and cities across the UK and make them accessible to the broadest possible audience. Sky Arts will produce a series of short films, following ten of the artists through the stages of concept, creation and installation of their works.
“As a North East man born and bred, I can’t wait to see Lumiere in Durham” comments Jeremy Darroch, Sky’s Chief Executive. “Having heard about the plans from the Sky Arts and Artichoke teams, I know it’s going to be a spectacular event, giving people new and unexpected ways of looking at art against the backdrop of one of the UK’s most beautiful cities.”
Artichoke:
Artichoke is a registered charity, funded by Arts Council England. Artichoke works with the best creative minds to produce extraordinary shows that live in the memory forever, and believes that the arts should take place not only behind the closed doors of theatres and art galleries, but also in public places.
In May 2006, Artichoke presented the biggest piece of free theatre ever seen in the UK, Royal de Luxe’s The Sultan’s Elephant. The story of the little girl giant and the 30 foot tall elephant won the hearts of the nation and the press claimed a million people filled the streets of London to watch. In 2008 the company joined London and New York by means of Paul St George’s Telectroscope, and people gathered day and night on both sides of the Atlantic to reunite lost family members or simply to catch a glimpse of life across the pond. Also in 2008 the company mounted the flagship event for Liverpool’s Capital of Culture celebrations, with La Machine’s 50-foot high mechanical spider and her adventures in the city. And in 2009 the company has produced Antony Gormley’s 100-day long invasion of the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square in London, One & Other.
Sky Arts has generously committed to working with Artichoke for the next two years. Their support will enable Artichoke to develop new opportunities for artists to create work across the country and new ways to delight, surprise and challenge audiences everywhere.
Sky Arts: On Screen, Online, On stage, and On the Streets
Lumiere is produced as part of a major two-year sponsorship with Artichoke, the ground-breaking company that brings art to the streets of towns and cities across the UK. Sky Arts is one of the largest corporate sponsors of the arts in the UK.
With four arts channels in over 9 million customer homes across the UK and Ireland, Sky Arts has doubled output to 36 hours every day of the week on Sky Arts 1 and Sky Arts 2, with Sky Arts 1 HD and Sky Arts 2 HD offering the best programmes in glorious high definition
Sky supports the arts and make them accessible off as well as on screen, to the broadest possible audience. Recent programme highlights include The Book Show – the UK’s only television programme dedicated to books, hosted by Mariella Frostrup; Songbook, a series on some of the greatest songwriters of the day; and Sky Arts Theatre Live! which saw Sky Arts return live theatre to television for the first time in twenty years.
About Durham Festivals and Events:
In 2008, Durham hosted the award-winning Enlightenment, its first-ever international light based arts festival featuring outdoor arts installations by Asian and British artists and inspired by the county’s religious and industrial heritage. 30,000 visitors saw Durham’s bridges, river, landmarks and shop fronts transformed into a stunning exhibition of light based art, presented as part of the EAST ’08 season of North East England’s world-class festivals and events programme, developed by culture10.
BRASS: Durham International Festival, another of the festivals featured in North East England’s world-class festivals and events programme, is one of the world’s fastest growing festivals celebrating global brass music. Over the past three years, Durham has welcomed musicians from five continents and more than 20 countries and annual audiences in excess of 80,000 for two weeks of free street performances and big band concerts in July.
At the same time, work is underway to revive the lost tradition of Mystery plays in Durham. These biblical stories are being reinterpreted through contemporary media by local Durham artists under the direction of the
city’s Gala Theatre, in partnership with culture10.
Durham’s Book Festival attracts leading literary figures each year to
celebrate the power of the written word. In 2008, the festival was headlined by best-selling authors, Kate Atkinson (Whitbread prize-winner – Behind the Scenes at the Museum) and Bernard Cornwell (Sharpe series), TV comedian, author and activist Mark Thomas, and veteran BBC War correspondent Kate Adie.
About the City of Culture 2013 Bid:
Durham’s culture bid is led by Durham County Council, in partnership with County Durham Partnership, Visit County Durham and Durham City Vision. The bid will centre around the following strands:
‘Cultural City – Cultural County’: a series of activities reconnecting the communities of the county with its capital city and vice-versa, re-energising the City as the economic, social and creative heart of the county. ‘Creative Durham’: a series of activities designed to enhance the county’s cultural life, encouraging community participation in cultural activities and promote Durham as an area where creative people can live and work. ‘Festival Durham’: an ambitious programme of events and festivals which will take Durham into the next decade, cementing its position as a true cultural destination.
The new UK City of Culture competition was proposed to enable towns and cities to access the type of culture-led benefits that Liverpool achieved as European Capital of Culture in 2008. Evidence of the impact to Liverpool in 2008 can be accessed at www.impact08.net . Durham will be the first predominantly rural area to bid to take advantage of the benefits culture-led regeneration brings. Funding for the proposed bid comes from Performance Award Grant, money awarded to local authorities who perform well.
About culture10:
culture10 is a unique curated programme of exceptional cultural events and festivals across the North East of England. It is managed by the culture10 team, based at NewcastleGateshead Initiative, and, in addition to regular annual and biennial events in music, film, performance and food and drink, is focused on the region’s Landscape and Heritage for 2009. Initiated in 2004, its programme has included events such as Battleship Potemkin with the Petshop Boys and La fura dels Baus on the river Tyne, as well as Durham’s first light festival Enlightenment and next year’s Mysteries. It is funded by Northern Rock Foundation, Gateshead Council, Newcastle Council, One North East and Arts Council England North East.
Partner organisations:
As well as the partnerships with Sky Arts, Durham County Council and culture10, Lumiere is sponsored by a variety of other organisations, including the European Union, National Express (trains), Marriott Hotels and JCB Ltd. Artichoke is working with Newcastle-based producer DGB Events to deliver the event, which also receives support from partners including Durham City Vision, the University of Durham and Durham Cathedral.
Contacts:
For further information / Use of pictures / Interviews
Idea Generation: +44(0)20 7749 6850
Ellen Harrison: ellen@ideageneration.co.uk
Emily Airton: emily@ideageneration.co.uk
Artichoke website
Lumiere website
Durham City of Culture website
