Winter Lights 2020: Warming Hearts and Brightening The City This Christmas
Winter Lights 2020: Warming Hearts and Brightening The City This Christmas
Dublin City Council’s extremely popular ‘Winter Lights’ campaign returns this festive season with 17 locations around the city transformed with colourful projections and lighting displays to bring some hope and cheer to what has been a very difficult year.
Once again this year Dublin City Council Culture Company has worked with groups and communities across the city to create brand new artworks for four of these locations, which reflect the experiences, resilience and creativity of the people who call Dublin home.
Lead artist Steve MacDevitt and a team of four other artists have worked with the groups’ members to create these heart-warming illuminations with messages of hope, resilience and positivity which will light up Samuel Beckett Bridge, Civic Office Wood Quay, The Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, City Hall and the Mater Hospital during the month of December.
Dublin City Council Culture Company and the artists worked closely with the groups, listening to their interests, wishes and stories to help bring them to life. This year the additional challenge of Covid-19 presented difficulties in bringing people together, the impact of which is reflected in some of the artworks.
The Artworks
The five artworks are:
1. ‘Keep on Moving’ by Richmond Barracks Over 55s Movement Group for Samuel Beckett Bridge is a bespoke four minute dance choreographed by the group and teacher Aoife McAtamney around the themes of strength, resilience and fun, featuring several styles of dance and the groups’ very own haka. Shot on greenscreen, the dancers' ten silhouettes will interact with each other as bright colours celebrating their vitality on the bridge for the month of December.
2. ‘Home Truths: Stories from The Croft and Hollybrook Lodge’ care homes for Dublin City Hall is a four minute storied animation of reminiscences from residents of their childhoods, their life experiences, the challenges they face with Covid-19, and their messages of hope as we move into the winter months; and brought to life by artist Alan Dunne.
3. HACE (Henrietta St. Adult & Community Education) worked with artist Helen Barry to create ‘Together’ for the Civic Offices, Woodquay. This three minute shadow-puppetry-based animation centres on Christmas and Dublin, with community at its heart. The group members identified and contributed to gathering images of well-known landmarks and their ambition is to provide messages of hope & positivity.
4. Working with artist Ben Readman, The National Neighbourhood has created ‘Look Out For The Light’ for the Mater Hospital, a four minute digital animation celebrating the power of hope, community, positivity and togetherness. The animation features a burst of illuminating colours with imagery to highlight what we sometimes take for granted: the beauty of the everyday: nature: the cycles of life, and our place within it. A poem written by Eamon White, one of the participants in the group, will accompany the imagery.
5. Also returning in 2020 is an artwork made by Synge Street CBS with artist Steve McDevitt for the Hugh Lane Gallery as part of Winter Lights 2019. Their artwork, inspired by the students' visits to the Hugh Lane Gallery and the artworks they saw there will light up the gallery once again this year.
About Winter Lights
‘Winter Lights’ is an initiative of Dublin City Council. All 17 locations will be up in lights from December 1st to January 1st. The eco-friendly ‘Winter Lights’ features 157,800 low power LEDs, 100 tonnes of equipment and 15,780 metres of cable. The lights that power some of the projections consume less than 80% of the energy of their traditional predecessors. Visit www.dublin.ie/winterlights for more information.