Dorset, Events & Entertainment, Poole | Posted on February 12th, 2020 | return to news
Light Up Poole digital light festival of delights
A festival of digital light in Poole High Street, the Quay and Old Town will take place between Thursday 20 until Saturday 22 February offering free and ticketed events.
Residents of Poole flats will be turning their block into an art gallery. The collaborative community project at Drake Court in Lagland Street is part of the nationwide Window Wanderland scheme to transform ordinary streets by encouraging residents to create art installations and display them in their windows after dark with the lights on.
The Community Chandelier in the Fish Shambles on Poole Quay will find people filling jars with coloured water to place on a frame with a light inside producing ever-changing combinations of light and colour in the darkness; while visitors can also contribute to the contemplative fire garden What Do You Have Faith In? by fire artists AndNow: at St James’s Church.
“This is the first time ever this concept is being set up so Poole is the starting point of a new story,” says Tom. “The idea is to find people from the local community who are unaware of their own talent and to honour their talents by giving them a sponsored canvas. This perhaps should be categorised as ‘Way beyond being a so-called artist’.”
Libby Battaglia of Light Up Poole producers Audacious, believes this community activity lies at the heart of what the festival is about. “Projects like these demonstrate that art is for everyone,” she says. “Light Up Poole offers creative opportunities for people of all ages, races, religions and capabilities to have a go and contribute.
“The festival is a partnership between the artists and Poole, its people, its history and its future. For centuries people have been drawn to the light and that’s exactly what happens in February in Poole when tens of thousands of people come out of their homes and experience something moving and magical together under the lights.”
As well as the light art installations, Light Up Poole also supports a programme of talks at Lighthouse, Poole’s centre for the arts, with guest speakers including TV historian Dr Janina Ramirez; Mark McCaughrean, Senior Science Advisor at the European Space Agency and MD of Poole-based Mathmos, inventors of the original lava lamp in 1963.
Researchers from Oxford University’s Diseases of Modern Life Group compare how the Victorians coped with the impact of new technology with how we deal with it today in a talk entitled ‘Sex and Drugs and Overload’ that is illuminated by The Projection Studio’s architectural mapping piece, Victorian Speed of Light, being shown on the Guildhall.
Light Up Poole is now in its third year and is estimated to be worth around £1.6 million to the local economy. It is funded by Arts Council England and main sponsor Poole BID, with additional contributions from BCP Council and private businesses.
For more details visit www.lightuppoole.co.uk.
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