The sky’s the limit for unique light artwork

Arts Week with Judy Murphy

“If you were to do this in Dublin, London or New York, it wouldn’t have the same impact,” says Light Artist Mick Murray of Light Ballet, a moving light artwork that will shortly be cruising towards South-East Galway along the River Shannon.

Light Ballet is about bringing art to the community, to places where people mightn’t expect to see it and has been designed to create a sense of wonder and delight, adds Mick’s collaborator, Lighting Designer, Matthew Cregan.

Billed as a ‘Ballet of Light in Ireland’s hidden heartlands’, it begins this Sunday, June 13, and continues until Monday June 20, taking in eight counties.

People around the Shannon are being urged to ‘look out and look up’ because Light Ballet will be visible for a radius of up to seven kilometres as it floats through each area.

The show is being presented from one of the larger cruise boats that frequent the Shannon. But, instead of having guests on board, Mick and Matthew will have the cabins filled with lighting and technical equipment. There will also be a captain, they add, to ensure they travel safely. And because the boat will be in the middle of the river, the display won’t have an impact on local wildlife. The duo have been working with Inland Waterways to ensure all runs smoothly and protecting birds and animals along the banks was a key element of preparations.

The lights, which are attached to a frame on the vessel, will project a variety of beams into the night sky in synch with a seven-and-a-half-minute soundtrack from Galway singer-songwriter David Kitt. That will continue for four hours every night and people can enjoy the experience from whenever they join.

“They will be like pillars of light and sculptures in the sky that are moving slowly for four hours, through darkness,” says Mick. “They will cut through the landscape and the water and will change as they come closer.”

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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