The old song lyrics ‘‘you light up my life'' take on a whole new meaning when it comes to light festivals, as Rebecca Fox discovers.
Even Queenstown can get a bit grim when winter bites, but a new lighting festival aims to lift everyone's spirits as well as showcase lighting design and art.
After a trial run last year, the LUMA Southern Light Project will again light up central Queenstown.
Event spokesman Luke Baldock said the project was inspired by light festivals such as the upcoming Vivid in Sydney and Wellington's LUX.
Lighting festivals have been attracting thousands of people for years. New Plymouth's summer Festival of Lights in Pukekura Park botanic gardens has been run since 1993.
Vivid transforms Sydney into a wonderland of "light art'' sculptures, light installations and "grand-scale'' projections while Wellington's LUX illuminates the city's waterfront and laneways with light sculptures.
This year, the main focus is on Queenstown Gardens, although there will still be installations around the township.
"Queenstown's gardens lend themselves superbly. It's natural environment and close relationship to the CBD and bay means it is easily accessible.
"It is an asset to the community and this is one way to highlight and celebrate it. And it is a special place at night as well.''
It brings together the art, design and technology sectors to create something creative and artistic.
"A lot of the installations are interactive.''
Some of the installations showcased at the likes of Vivid and LUX were coming to Queenstown.
Given they had been shown in urban contexts in the past, the installations would take on a new life in the garden setting, he said.
"There will be over a dozen elements in the garden to stroll around and explore.''
A highlight would be the sculpture trail being organised by Mark Moran, from Toi o Tahuna Gallery.
Sculpture from artists Gregor Kregar (Auckland), Paratene Matchitt (Napier), Luke Jacomb (Auckland), Conor McNicholas (Queenstown) and Drew Hill (Gisborne) will be featured.
"What I'm trying to achieve with the art walk is to present a number of high-quality sculptural works for the Queenstown community to experience and engage with, both in the daytime and at nighttime.''
He hopes the walk will grow during the coming years and becomes a significant event in its own right.
"I will be aiming to engage as many dealer galleries to support their artists to be involved. The art walk has been well received by artists and with a full year to plan for next year's event, I expect to see a much expanded event then.''
This year some sculptures may have projection, others LED lighting, while some may be mostly lit as part of their original design.
As with last year, Angus Muir, an architect, and his design team - including former Dunedin man Hamish Steptoe - from Auckland would be playing a big part in the project.
Juggling their commitments with Vivid, the team was bringing 10 to 12 installations down to Queenstown to display.
"There is a 20ft container on its way to Lyttelton with the installations in it that will then be trucked across.''
Included in those works were one that had been shown in Iceland at a lighting festival, as well as those created specifically to be lit up in Queenstown Gardens.
The team had visited Queenstown two or three times to walk through the gardens to get ideas from its environment before they developed the prototype of the works.
"We only have a certain amount of time, space and tight budgets.''
Improvements in technology had perversely made lighting design and art more difficult, he said.
"To stand out you have to be cleverer. Five years ago [technology] was helpful.''
The works developed for LUMA and Vivid will eventually go to lighting festivals around the world, from Beijing to Auckland.
"The most rewarding thing is to see people taking pictures - that's great, you know.''
The group behind the festival saw it as a chance to showcase more of the town's artistic endeavours at a time when most people's focus is on winter sports and adventure tourism.
Holding it at Queen's Birthday Weekend provided the community something to enjoy before the start of Winter Festival and early nightfall meant it was accessible for all the family.
"It is something the community can enjoy and participate in. There will be something for all ages,'' Mr Baldock said.
It not only features light and art but also movies and music with an open-air lounge and cinema in the gardens for all to enjoy.
