‘Longbridge Light Festival Lantern Parade’

The lantern parade is a stock feature of the light festival genre. Having been commissioned by Liz and Chris from General Public I made a series of apparently unlit ‘lantern sculptures’ which sought to re-work the lantern parade cliche as a subtle, technologically mediated participatory public artwork. The lantern sculptures appeared unlit, but were coated in retro-reflective pigment so could be activated by using the flash on a camera phone.

Musician Andy Ingamells played a melancholic trumpet version of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Dancing in the Dark’ whilst costumed Turves Green Girls School Students carried a series of miniature lantern sculptures created in workshops leading up to the event.