Longbridge Light Festival and Conference
Date uploaded: June 25, 2014
WERK (formerly EC Arts), in partnership with Birmingham City University and Birmingham City Council, are developing a one-day international conference to accompany this year’s Longbridge Festival of Light; which runs on the 24th and 25th of October 2014. The festival will include a variety of artists’ commissions, live events, workshops, participatory artworks and competitions, whilst the conference will include keynote speakers such as Jean-Francois Zurawik, the Director of Fete des Lumieres, Helen Marriage, the Director of Artichoke and Daan Roosegaarde, a Dutch artist and innovator.
Longbridge Light Festival context
Longbridge Light Festival celebrates St. Modwen’s regeneration of Longbridge, Birmingham UK. The festival one of four major outcomes within Longbridge Public Art Project conceived by WERK on behalf of Bournville College and in partnership with St. Modwen, Birmingham City Council Planning & Regeneration and Birmingham City University, with grant funding support from Arts Council West Midlands. The Festival partners share a commitment to the regeneration of Longbridge.
Longbridge is the former location of one of the largest and best-known car factories in the world. Almost a decade after the sudden closure of the car plant, the Festival will take place in the redeveloped town centre of Longbridge, now emerging from a high-profile redevelopment programme. What the Back to the Future theme attempts to capture is the challenge of looking forward to a strong and prosperous future without uprooting the sense of community from the area’s illustrious history. Maintaining this critical balance has been a key aim of WERK’s broader Public Art Strategy for Longbridge, in addition to developing relationships with a number of local partners and established successful events such as Pride of Longbridge.
International Conference
Friday 24 October 2014 9am -5.30pm
Venue: Bournville College Conference Centre, Longbridge Lane, B31 2AJ
The programme will include keynote speakers; Jean-Francois Zurawik, Director of Fete des Lumieres, Lyon established as one of the most successful Lighting Festivals in Europe, attracting over 4 million visitors a year, Helen Marriage, Director of Artichoke awarded a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2013, a prestigious fellowship awarded to individuals working in the area of urban design and planning and Daan Roosegaarde, a Dutch artist and innovator who is internationally recognised for his social designs which explore the relationship between people, technology and space.
The final programme and full list of speakers will be published shortly; spaces are limited and will be chargeable so please do register your interest asap by emailing [email protected]
Longbridge Light Festival - Back to the Future
Saturday 25 October 2014 6pm - 10.30pm
Venue: multiple sites across Longbridge
WERK have commissioned Elizabeth Rowe & Chris Poolman as LPAP artists in residence to develop the artistic proposition and theme for Longbridge’s inaugural Light Festival in October 2014. The Festival theme, ‘Back to the Future’, will draw upon the science fiction genre and the idea of sustainable living within an urban environment.
As well as an array of commissions, events, workshops and competitions, the Festival will feature temporary installations by artists based in Birmingham’s sister cities Lyon, (France), Leipzig (Germany). Commissioned by WERK in partnership with Halle14 (Leipzig), Grand Union (UK), Fete des Lumieres, (Lyon) Grand Lyon and supported by St. Modwen.
For more information click here.
