Tom Jeffreys rejoices in Durham arts festival Lumiere - a clear lesson in how to produce public art with both vision and sensitivity.
Public art is a tricky business. It must be something to do with the combination of artistic ego and committee-driven decision-making that causes many a commendable project to descend into mediocrity. One need only think of Bruce McLean's vile steel constructions on Bishopsgate or those ghastly Lorenzo Quinn things around Park Lane to come to the conclusion that perhaps art is better off simply staying inside the white-walled gallery where it belongs.
But then you go to an event like Lumiere, an arts festival that took place this weekend up in Durham, and you realise what public art can be. Commissioned by Durham County Council and organised by Artichoke – the people behind that giant mechanical spider in Liverpool, the 42-tonne elephant that took over London's streets in 2006, and Anthony Gormley's questionable (in my opinion) Fourth Plinth project in 2009 – Lumiere is not only a city-wide festival of light but also a valuable lesson in how to produce public art with both vision and sensitivity.
After its successful launch in 2009, which drew around 75,000 visitors to Durham and apparently raised about £1.5million for the local economy, Lumiere's return this year is hotly anticipated. Throughout this beautiful city, the talk – from waitresses to school kids, café workers to pensioners – is all about “the lights”. And this broad appeal continues from advance anticipation right through the event itself – so much so, in fact, that Lumiere risks being a victim of its own success: in places, streets are blocked by the sheer volume of people, and there were reports of security concerns as a result.
But coming from London, the crowds don't seem so bad, and they certainly don't take the gloss off a magical opening night. It all kicks off with fun and a flourish, in the form of a parade of schoolchildren bearing an assortment of fish-shaped lanterns they've created, under the guidance of the Liverpool Lantern Company. Led by a huge lit-up heron, it's a brilliant way to get everyone excited and strikes that perfect balance between top-down spectacle and local popular involvement.
The parade wends its way through Durham's mazy streets and up to the jewel in the city's crown – its world-famous medieval cathedral. For Lumiere 2011, as in 2009, the cathedral has been transformed by Crown of Light, a sound and light show by Ross Ashton, Robert Ziegler and John Del' Nero that is not only a visual treat, but also an in-depth and thoughtful study of the unique history of this incredible cathedral. I only know this on account of a fascinating Blue Badge tour round the city and cathedral earlier in the day, but one imagines the locals are clued up on these things. Certainly the crowd seems in raptures.
Astonishingly, from these early heights, Lumiere keeps getting better. In an impressive piece of theatrics, Compagnie Carabosse's have filled the Cathedral nave, cloisters and College gardens with trails of thrilling pagan fires; Peter Lewis has created a beguiling waterfall of light off Kingsgate Bridge; and Jacques Rival has turned a statue of an unpopular mine-owner in Market Square into an amusingly naff snow globe, emblazoned with the words 'I Love Durham' in violet neon. It's probably Lumiere's most controversial work for a number of reasons, and I'm still not entirely convinced, but it's certainly a memorable centrepiece.
Not everything is a complete success of course, but then with 35 works dotted across the city, that's hardly surprising. The opening night sees a few technical glitches, whilst the big-name pieces – neons by Tracey Emin and Martin Creed – are dull as dishwater. Some of the smaller works are a bit of a let-down too, with Lab(au)'s LED panels, Claire Morgan's suspended lightbulb moon and Leonardo Meigas' strangely amateurish grid of light all coming across better in the publicity photographs than in real life.
But there's no question that Lumiere 2011 has been a triumph, artistically at least. In her brief chat to the press on the Thursday afternoon, Artichoke co-director Helen Marriage explains the desire to create “lovely little ways of moving people around the city so that they discover a new nook or a new cranny in a whole new way”. Cedric le Borgne's cleverly spot-lit sculptures dotted down the quaintly cobbled South Bailey are a great example of this, although the actual figures are a bit sub-Gormley for my tastes; whilst Tobie Langel's text clock (with displays like “It's almost five past eleven”) contrasts rather neatly with the Brutalist block on which it's projected.
But, for me, one work encapsulates the desire to shine a light (literally) upon Durham's overlooked or undiscovered corners. To the south of the city centre, off South Road, stands the Church of St Oswald, which dates back to the twelfth century (and probably even earlier). Through the autumn-night gloom we spy a tall spear of blue-white light, make our way through the graveyard, and round the back of the church, whilst strange noises shriek and crack in the foliage around us. There, on the exterior of the church, is projected Simeon Nelson's Plenum, a grid of dots of light, that slowly, but with increasing energy, merge together, decay and vanish. It's a beautiful, intriguing work in itself, but also a neat encapsulation of Lumiere in general: bold and engaging but also sensitive and thoughtful – everything public art should be.
I travelled by East Coast train from London King’s Cross to Durham: Standard Advance returns, booked online at www.eastcoast.co.uk, from London to Durham start from £27. Times and fares also on 08457 225225 or from staffed main line stations and agents.
Image credits: Spirit, Compagnie Carabosse; Splash, Peter Lewis; Plenum, Simeon Nelson - all © Matthew Andrews
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