It’s time to light up for a festive New Year
Alight tree illuminates the Nanli plaza of downtown Xintiandi along Zizhong Road, announcing a monthlong celebration of the upcoming Christmas and New Year.
Entitled “Atomes,” or atoms in English, the art installation takes the shape of a tree trunk springing up from the ground. Inside the trunk, visitors will be greeted by a chamber of white balloons amid a beacon of light shedding down from atop. With a slight touch, the balloons bounce against each other, adrift high up to the top.
French artist Charles Petillon said he was inspired by a saunter at Xintiandi about two years ago, where different cultures mix, and people rendezvous and socialize in restaurants and bars.
“The art installation is a metaphor … each balloon represents one people,” he told Shanghai Daily. It could be symbolizing social interaction between people, or the atoms that form the whole universe …
“People can have their own interpretation. It’s a public installation, no longer a work of my own,” Petillon said. And this is the very reason that he got addicted to public art installations — to pose questions, interact and share with people.
Before steering onto the path of making art installations, Petition was an experienced photographer, taking dozens of editorial essays for Vogue France, and commercial campaigns for luxury brands. When exploring with materials for photo call set-ups, he came up with balloons, which later became his signature. His renowned “Invasion” project features photos taken in a variety of architectural settings that are filled with flows of balloons.
In 2015, he came up with his first public installation “Heartbeat” in London’s Covent Garden. The ceiling of the fair market was filled with a massive cloud of some 100,000 white balloons, illuminated with tender lights.
For Petillon, “balloons help me make a difference between seeing and watching,” the latter much intense and thought-provoking.
His latest artwork in Shanghai is marked as a centerpiece of Xintiandi’s “Xmas Light You” project, which showcases seven pieces of light artworks that adorned the outdoor public spaces and the shopping malls. Hidden inside a corner in Event Space, say, lies a light installation “Dance with Me.”
Created by Taiwan designer Kate Chung, myriad small articles scatter around under the lights. The featherlike articles swing, to a slight touch or a blow of tender breeze; their shadows vary, as if dancing fairies.
“It is a piece of art installation meant to bring people peace and happiness,” Chung said.
Xintiandi’s light project takes the lead of the Fourth Lumieres Shanghai, an artistic light event initiated by Xintiandi. This year, the project evolves to include four shopping and entertaining hubs of China Xintiandi Group. That include The Hub in Hongqiao area, Ruihong Tiandi in Hongkou District and KIC in Yangpu District.
A total of 23 pieces of artistic light installation works are showcased this year, of which 10 pieces are specially commissioned for the light event.
“Crystal Fireworks” by acclaimed Japanese art collective teamLab stunned the audience at The Hub. With a height of 14 meters, the LED device is presented in the form of a giant crystal tassel. Visitors can interact with the installation by projecting various patterns of fireworks they like onto the crystal backdrop.
A huge-scale Mobius Ring is extended in the center of KIC plaza. The steel art installation “OBJECT-#MS15,” created by computer artist Zhang Zhoujie stretches for 13 meters, and is formed by 12,480 triangle faces. A 120-meter LED belt was embedded, lights changing hues according to the surrounding ambient sounds.
Light festivals in winter have been gaining in popularity in recent years. “Light makes a city shine and good public art tells a nice story,” said Raymond Borsboom, founder of the Amsterdam Light Festival, a leading event of its kind around the world.
Light festival is an ideal way to wake up a city in winter sleep, lure people out of their doors and even “give the economy a boost,” Borsboom told Shanghai Daily.
“The boat owners can now sell around 350,000 tickets between 5pm and 10pm during the festival. Before that, they sold none,” he added, referring to the booming cruise trip on the Dutch capital’s canal in winter.
The 2018 Amsterdam Light Festival is currently ongoing under the theme of “The Medium is the Message.” The 53day exhibition features a journey along 30 light artworks that “involves the inhabitants” and blends the city’s history and architecture, and its landmark canal as well.
The key for a well-orchestrated light festival is “for artists to adapt the artworks to the surroundings, and to show the audience a combination of good contents, beauty of art and various techniques,” Borsboom said.
“Scouting for young talent is vital, to give them a platform, and make their ideas happen with our experience.”