LlumBCN - Barcelona Festival of Light

Becky + Alice
Feb 13, 2016
2 min read

Yesterday evening we ventured into the old town to see the many events and installations of the Barcelona Light Festival, taking place across two days during the Saint Eulalia Fesitval. The city was very much alive with people and activity following the Llum BCN light path through narrow passages and open squares, with numerous light displays, projections and musical performances transforming the old streets, squares and buildings of the Gothic Quarter

During our explorations, we witnessed a light mapping show where projections and installations adorned the grand façades of the buildings in Plaça de Sant Jaume, (video above). As the lights became more animated, smoke was pumped into the square and the interplay between the lasers, music and clouds were amazing.

After this we watched a music performance in front of the Barcelona Cathedral, before exploring a couple of smaller interventions in old churches and public buildings nestled into the gothic streets.

The first we came accross was by Bany Roig, from the school UPC-CCCB, showing his work from his Masters in Disseny i d'Espais Producció. His work explored the relationship between the retina, the brain and the environment. In the show, the audience was bathed in red, entering them into the light experiment itself. If the brain has to interpret less information from the environment being a single colour, the eye actually sees more shades of that single colour because if it, and details have increased visibility.

At the end of the show, we were all given a small glow in the dark LED to throw into the centre and make a wish with.

My favourite from the whole evening though was that in the Museu Frederic Marès musuem, designed by IED Master students in Disseny d'Interiors, from Dins l'univers.

The show was a single structure in the centre of the courtyards, with moving and floating lights casting projected glowing points across the space, trees and people. The art work was a celebration and appreciation for all those who have died without justification, their own beacons glowing in the space of total darkness.

Offering a sanction away from the hustle and bustle of the city, the piece was designed to represent an intergalactic place of tranquility, a transporting place which was completly all consuming.