A Kaleidoscopic Festival of Light Is Coming to Auckland Harbour
The new three-day lighting experience will feature a trail of more than a dozen interactive installations.
Following the installation of a 2000-light artwork along the Viaduct Harbour's eastern seawall last year, a kaleidoscopic festival of light will arrive on the Auckland waterfront next month. Bright Nights is a new three-day lighting experience from award-winning Angus Muir Design and Viaduct Harbour Holdings.
The free, all-ages festival will feature a trail of more than a dozen installations weaving through the waterfront hospitality destination from the iconic KZ1 boat outside the New Zealand Maritime Museum to Waitematā Plaza. It will come alive at 6pm each night from Friday 11 until Sunday 13 May.
Auckland-based light artist Angus Muir is already known for revitalising spaces with mesmeric and interactive experiences. For Bright Nights he has assembled a number of renowned artists who will showcase a variety of cutting-edge technology in their lighting works. The theme of clean seas and sustainability underpins the festival's storyline.
Located in Market Square, Fortune Fountain is an interactive art work by Puck Murphy, Conrad Wedde and Olivier Jean proffering a contemporary interpretation of the mythical wishing well. At KZ1, Undersail will see the 1998 America's Cup Challenger Yacht projection mapped with a vision of mesmerising sea life conceived by Lakshman Anandanayagam together with collaborating audio artists. Sarah-Jane Blake will also offer a performance piece titled Light Ships.
Other artist installations including Muir's own Burrow, Waterfun, Squiggle and Mountain of Light will see Viaduct Harbour rendered in colour and sound to dazzling effect. See the lineup of works here.
Audio will also play a key part in the experience. The Square Dance Discotheque is an interactive installation by Perceptual Engineering that will see the ground react to the movement of dancing with a projected disco dance floor. Glow dance troupe Vospertron will also be roaming the Viaduct each night.
In addition to the Viaduct's generous spread of hospitality offerings, Lalele Organic will launch a pop-up in Market Square with glow-in-the-dark gelato as part of an experiential UV room.
Bright Nights takes place from May 11-13. For more information, visit the festival website.
Image: Mountain of Light, Angus Muir Design.
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