Between November 17th and 20th 2011, dozens of artists, lighting designers and community groups showcased a series of light installations and projections that illuminated Durham's buildings, streets and bridge as part of Lumiere Durham. Up to 140,000 visitors flocked to the streets to view the specially selected works.

Lumiere producers Artichoke joined forces with the NewcastleGateshead Initiative to launch an opportunity for people based in or originally from the North East region of England. The programme, called Brilliant, was developed to support artists to produce lightworks to be showcased at the festival.

UK based design studio Deadgood led by creative directors Dan Ziglam & Elliot Brook were commissioned as one of the four successful proposals of the Brilliant programme to create a lightwork inspired by a natural weather phenomenon. Rainbows have a unique ability to lift the spirits even on the gloomiest day and have inspired countless literary, musical and artistic works. They appear when the sun's light shines through droplets of moisture in the atmosphere from rain, mist and dew, projecting a spectrum of colour seemingly in distinctive bands. Because the human visual perception of colour is poor in dark conditions, we normally only see rainbows in the daylight.

 

“We wanted to create a piece that could engage a wide and diverse audience, Rainbows stir the imagination in many from an early age and it felt like the perfect symbol to touch and inspire such a large amount of visitors on a cold dark winter evening” Dan Ziglam – Deadgood Director

Many thanks to Artichoke and Northern Rock Foundation for making the rainbow possible, as well as all the other exhibitors and visitors for contributing to a great atmosphere...also not forgetting the lovely city of Durham for providing the great surroundings.

 

Photographic credits to David Barrass, James Cummings, Brian Bolt, Robin James Price and Stephen Creaser.