Taking place from 25-27 November, 2005, Radiance will ensure that a walk through the Merchant City will become a dazzling journey of discovery for a wide range of audiences of all ages, from art lovers to people working or shopping in the city, as the often hidden, but beautiful buildings are illuminated by stunning light installations and captivating visual artworks in unusual and unexpected places. Developed and funded by Glasgow City Council, as part of their £5.2 million investment into the city's lighting strategy, and organized in partnership with leading arts and events management companies nva and DF Concerts, it is hoped the festival will develop in time to a similar scale and scope as Lyon's successful Fête des Lumières and Paris' Nuit Blanche. Radiance will also coincide with Glasgow's hosting of the 2005 AGM of LUCI, the Lighting Urban Community International Association, which promotes creative lighting strategies within urban contexts, of which Glasgow is one of only two UK members.
Overseen by Katrina Brown (curator at Dundee Contemporary Arts centre), Radiance will feature a varied programme of visual artworks by leading international names such as Ross Sinclair, David Batchelor, Fiona Banner, Xavier Veilhan and Mark Handforth. These artists will reveal and highlight the ever changing architectural features of the festival site, using neon in a variety of ways and creating sculptures which will make use of and react with the natural environment in which they are placed.
Leading lighting designers Dave Bryant and Simon Corder will also be involved in transforming several major sites using captivating techniques such as animation and interactive performance, which will create power to light up one of the key installations in the Merchant Square and will literally stop passers by in their tracks.
nva and Katrina Brown are working with five local organisations: The Glasgow Sculpture Studio, Sorcha Dallas, Street Level Gallery, Transmission Gallery and Independent Studios to showcase the city's home grown talent with a series of exciting collaborative commissions using striking projections and sound and video art. An invitation has also been sent to local artists' networks to solicit open submissions for inclusion in the programme. Details of the chosen submissions will be announced in late September.
(Lee Baldock)
