Beyond Momentous

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lemans_chimeres

Lighting up the Civic Hall has been a big success. Could it be the start of something bigger, wonders Richard Horsman (@leedsjourno)  who’s seen angels and demons in France …

It was a joy to be in town whilst Momentous was happening.  Millennium Square was thronged with happy, largely sober, people of all ages and backgrounds. The Civic Hall looked lovely, something exciting happened every fifteen minutes, and it was a damn sight easier to understand than that Overworlds/Underworlds extravaganza which was all very clever, but a bit self-regarding. Momentous was the highlight of my Leeds Light Night and I’ve yet to hear a negative word about it. Well done to all concerned.

Now wouldn’t it be great if Momentous could be the start of something bigger? I have a vision. Actually, I saw a vision in France over the summer.

We were in Le Mans for an overnight stop. Probably best known to petrolheads as the venue for a 24-hour race event it’s not the most glamorous of French towns. Like Leeds it’s suffered as old factories have closed. Like Leeds it has a pretty centre and lots of nondescript suburbs. Apart from the race circuit and a motor museum Le Mans has a nice cathedral and some ramparts. That’s about it.  So they came up with an idea to attract tourists in the evening, when said tourists would be likely to want something to eat, and maybe a bed for the night.  They created the Nuit des Chimères.

Angels and demons chase souls up the tower of the cathedral. A white lady hovers enigmatically in a garden. Frogs in a fountain spawn Adam and Eve. Aristos squabble over a neverending dinner table. Rather than inflict my holiday snaps on you, this video gives the general idea.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could do something similar round the city centre? The Town Hall and The Markets would be obvious locations. Leeds Minster could emulate the ‘angels and demons’ theme. The Corn Exchange and the white University Parkinson Tower offer unique and very different stone canvases.

The pavements up the pub yards off Briggate are just asking for the coloured gaslights and pavement projections that would lure punters to the door of Whitelocks, The Ship and The Packhorse.  And of course Leeds too has restaurants and hotels that could do with a bit of extra summer trade.  That’s the other thing about the Nuit des Chimères – it goes on for two months, so the costs are spread and visitors keep on coming.

So could Leeds be up for a Night of Dreams – maybe just in time to captivate French visitors here for the Tour de France in 2014?  Just a thought.

12 comments

  1. Wow! Momentous was brilliant but the work in France shown on this video is completely stunning. Leeds would wear this concept like Cinderella going to the ball 🙂

  3. A *wonderful* idea – really spectacular – but I can’t begin to imagine of the cost. Perhaps some of that TdF cultural programme budget could cover it? Perhaps it would need much, much more than that.

    What you’re right about is that Momentous was quite a moment, if you’ll excuse the pun. It feels like everyone who saw it felt like – wow, this is happening here in our city. And it’s world class. And let’s be honest, we don’t get to feel like that often enough. That feeling of having something bold, of that calibre, is something that ought to be explored.

    1. What better way to spend the bar tax or casino tax?

      Or seek sponsorship from those who would benefit from more late night footfall eg Trinity Leeds, the bus/train/taxi companies, car park operators etc

  6. Just lost deatiled post so abridged version.

    I’m with Richard. what would be the cost? Is it technology or artist?

    Momentus ace rest of Mill Sq stuff underwhelming, the square itself felt under used, there’s a lot of good buildings to project onto.

    Could you use the big screen to (between quarter hours) show shorts made by some of our ace film makars?

    Could we mess with some Le Prince footage and project it onto a different building, with text giving key facts?

    There’s shit-loads that you could do. Imagination not cash seems the key.

  7. Great idea! It needn’t be just one site – it can move around – we’ve already done it several times at Temple Works- we’d go
    in as part of a group.

  8. It’s not (just) about the technology – although this can assist in creating large-scale impact- but rather about how an artistic vision can create a whole – Light Festivals are major tourist attractions on the continent – Lyon’s festival each year in early December is probably the most well known but there are others Lux in Helsinki for example.
    The opportunity to combine this vision with live performance to animate the city space in a more holistic way would be fantastic – but this is a slightly different thing to Light Night as it is currently envisioned – a strength is the wide community involvement in the staging of events even if the quality of these is variable. What is clear is that there is a clear desire for a shared city-wide cultural experience but it needs a focus/impact like Momentous. Commissioning a large-scale performance company like Bradford have just done for As The World Tipped or Liverpool’s Sea Odyssey performing across the city as Richard suggests…would create a one-off playful event that would make people feel proud of the city and perhaps allow us to forget our current economic woes at least temporarily

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