Illuminate Bath 2012
Following on from a successful first festival last November, Illuminate Bath returns, from Wednesday 25 to Saturday 28 January, bringing beautiful and engaging projected artworks to the city centre. Banishing the gloom of January’s long evenings, this ‘festival of light’ will include seven original installations in public spaces, all of which will be completely free for the public to explore.
With something to captivate all ages, the festival will include work by international and local artists, alongside art created by Bath school children and Art & Design students from Bath Spa University.
The highlight of Illuminate Bath 2012 will undoubtedly be Clockwork City created by Greyworld, an artists’ collective which has created mesmerising public art works across the world. Greyworld has created work in London, Warsaw and Bangkok and is currently working on a special commission in St. Petersburg. For the Bath multi-venue installation, visitors will find that large keys have been mysteriously attached to street furniture such as bins and benches. When turned, the keys will trigger lights, projected images and sounds, magically bringing the dark street to life. www.greyworld.org
The other installations in the festival will include:
Catch Me Nowby Tine Bech: Children, in particular, will love to chase this deceptively simple spotlight as it reacts to their movement and leads them on a merry dance. Danish artist, Tine Bech, combines electronics with location tracking technology and the environmental elements of urban spaces to create playful experiences for curious visitors. www.tinebech.com
New light installation by Alex Cotterell, Will Kendrick, Lumen and OCD: Bath’s most famous landmark, the Roman Baths, will be transformed for two nights into a colour-filled oasis by light projections onto the water of The Great Bath. As the steam rises into the cold January air, this promises to be a truly enchanting spectacle. The balcony area of the baths will open for the public to view the projected experience for free for two nights during the festival.
Heads, Bodies, Legsby Petra Freeman and St. Saviours Junior School: Bath based animator Petra Freeman and filmmaker Tim Rolt, collaborate with 50 children and staff from St. Saviours to make an interactive animated version of this traditional pencil and paper game.
Attracted to Lightby Robert Fearns and students from Bath Spa University: Bath-based artist and filmmaker Robert Fearns, specialises in exploring how we see, experience and create urban spaces. Attracted to Light is inspired by the way humans use light to navigate through the night-time urban jungle. Like moths to a lamp, we too are drawn to the images and shadows created by numerous small light sources.
A specially commissioned piece by Kristin and Davy McGuire:This husband and wife team are fast grabbing the attention of the international music and theatre worlds with their stunning films and live shows. Their Illuminate Bath work will feature Kristin’s dance and choreography alongside Davy’s unique animation. A previous project of theirs is: www.theicebook.com
Live Drawing & Creative Writing:Illustrators and writers from Bath Spa University will create artworks live, projected onto the wall of the Pump Room, as the audience looks on.
Anthony Head, Creative Director of Illuminate Bath and Senior Teaching Fellow at Bath Spa University says:
“This year’s festival is going to be an impressive transformation of the City Centre, showing a wide variety of light and projection projects that will enthral the Bath audience. Showing over four nights will mean that people will be entertained by a variety of different events occurring simultaneously each night."
“One of the highlights for me is enabling students to work with international artists Greyworld, which has been a real privilege and inspiration. Their work has a playful approach which enables people to reconsider their preconceptions of public spaces and objects.”
“Allowing free entry to the balcony area of Roman Baths on two of the nights to see a magical projection light work is really exciting. The Great Bath, with its mist rising, will be lit up by an enchanting use of colour and reflection.”
“Several of the projects on show encourage interactive participation from the audience, so come along and join in."
Illuminate Bath is organised by Bath Spa University and RELAYS, a London 2012 legacy project based in universities across the south west of England that aims to inspire young people to volunteer, try new sports and be creative.
‘This event marks the start of the RELAYS 2012 celebration programme that will run across the south west during Games year,’ explains Leanne Dingle, RELAYS Project Director. ‘As part of the Cultural Olympiad, Illuminate Bath will be one of the first festivals in the region inspiring people to engage with the arts.’
RELAYS is funded by Legacy Trust UK, an independent charity set up to create a cultural and sporting legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games across the UK.
The first Illuminate Bath took place in November 2010 and was attended by over 40,000 people.
The art works will be available to explore every evening from 25-28 January, 5-8pm.
Please visit the website www.illuminatebath.org for more information.
