From 26 November 2010 to 2 January 2011, Geneva illuminates its lakeside promenade thanks to the tenth edition of the Festival Arbres et Lumières.
One of the artists invited, the Italian director and lighting designer Simona Braga proposed a mini eight-minute son et lumière with music and recitation. “Le souffle du monde” is a sequence of projections and lighting effects that develop the basic themes of the Festival (nature and light) thanks to a series of archetypes. The spectator is accompanied by the recitation and flow of visual suggestions along a light path that crosses the dimensions of time as a bearer of beauty and harmony. The projections have been achieved using high resolution photo gobos for the graphic designs created by the author, and Clay Paky metal gobos to produce some of the effects, such as the woods and fog which seem to come from the lake and disperse with the sunrise.
The photo gobo projections are perfectly focused, whereas the author has chosen to blur the others slightly for artistic reasons. In order to have a sufficient variety of effects, Simona Braga has also made extensive use of the iris and prism.
The lighting effects are projected onto four fan-shaped screens between 16 and 20 metres from the ground. The Alpha Profile 1200s have been hung on a tree in front of the screens, at a height of about 14 metres, and protected against inclement weather using a spacious wood and Plexiglas “box” that allows pan and tilt movements. This year’s edition has been marked by bad weather, snow and ice, which has transformed the city’s landscape. The violent gusts of wind delayed the installation of the screens, but the hard wearing Clay Paky lights have allowed the show to be staged even during the most critical days, with ice forming unexpected shapes on the branches.
Simona Braga programmed the 76 light cues on a computer in order to achieve perfect synchronization between the “fade in” and “fade out” times and music score. Lighting desk operator Federico Selva, from Michele Alvarez’s Emme SA, programmed the show on a Compulite Vector during the installation, then transferred everything onto a Vector Node for automatic loop reproduction for the whole duration of the event.
Light design and text: Simona Braga – http://www.artlabeventi.com/
Lights: Clay Paky Alpha Profile 1200s
Gobos: 20 Clay Paky gobos and 8 Rosco high resolution photo gobos
Service: Michele Alvarez’s Emme SA
Lighting desk operators: Federico Selva