LUMA set to 'light up' American Express Queenstown Winter Festival

Image caption:  'Field' by Angus Muir and Alexandra Heaney

The Southern Lights Project ‘LUMA’ is previewing its inaugural 2016 light festival at this year’s American Express Queenstown Winter Festival with a pilot project featuring several international light installations.

Running from Wednesday 24 June to Sunday 28 June, this year’sLUMA event will take the form of a curated collection of light sculptures and installations located in central Queenstown. The focus will be on using the installations to transform spaces as well as encouraging public interaction.

The LUMA team have collaborated with the American Express Queenstown Winter Festival to create the perfect platform to showcase the Southern Lights Project concept which coincides with the International Year of Light 2015.

Winter Festival manager, Lisa Buckingham, believes it’s a fantastic opportunity to bring renowned light artists and their sculptures to Queenstown.

“LUMA will add an exciting new dimension to Winter Festival, really lighting up downtown areas and showcasing some of the awe-inspiring light sculptures. Winter Festival is the perfect platform for LUMA’s introduction with the long evenings and extra visitors to Queenstown providing the perfect environment to profile these exciting installations,” says Ms Buckingham.

LUMA organisers say the aim is to ultimately create a collaborative event which engages the local community, businesses and internationally recognised light sculptors. By launching a preview event during Winter Festival and gaining local support, the scene is set for a standalone event in 2016.

“We feel the pilot project is vital to give the community a chance to see what is possible in this arena and help gather support for the larger inaugural event in 2016. To coincide with Winter Festival 2015 we plan to exhibit an existing collection of light sculptures and installations around central Queenstown in celebration of the International Year of Light (IYL2015),” says Luke Baldock of LUMA.


Shroud' by Angus Muir and Alexandra Heaney

LUMA will exhibit four light installations at the 2015 preview event by Auckland based designers Angus Muir and Alexandra Heaney, including ‘Field,’ ‘Shroud,’ ‘Digital Wattle’ and ‘Ordered Chaos.’ The installations will be paired, with two installed on Queenstown's Marine Parade and the other two in Church Lane.

There is no charge to view the sculptures and LUMA would like to acknowledge the support of the Aspiring Arts Trust and Destination Queenstown for helping to make the 2015 pilot possible.