Oxford Inspires

A light spectacular

Luminox: lighting up the city

If you have been down to Luminox and taken any pictures then we want you to email to us and your pictures could be in our image gallery very soon...

Simon Chatterton, the festival organiser spoke to BBC Radio Oxford's Dominic Cotter about Luminox.

Hear Simon Chatterton talk to Dominic Cotter > Audio and Video links on this page require Realplayer

Electric light was extinguished, and the large-scale immersive fire piece created a stirring shared experience. The transformation demonstrated the true value of Broad Street as a beautiful central piazza and a focus for public gathering and art instead of a place to get through on the way to somewhere else.

Thursday saw the launch of Luminox. Just before 7 PM, electric lighting along Broad Street was be shut off and the fires started being lit which attracted lots of curious onlookers.

The large-scale fire installation Luminox was the creation of renowned French artists Carabosse. It featured hundreds of hanging fire pots and chandeliers.

At the heart of this elemental world was a 18m spire sculpture created by Oxford artist Ted Dewan. The spire made of bamboo and bound together with hemp rope had a giant pendulum hanging from the top.

Luminox in action

Over three hours the pendulum makes approximately 1000 swings, each ‘tick tock’ of the pendulum representing a single year of Oxfordshire’s history. At 7pm Ted Dewan set this pendulum swinging.

To compliment Luminox, Oxford Contemporary Music under the directorship of Jo Ross contributed specially commissioned music and soundscapes.

A related exhibition on fire was also open at the same time in the Museum of the History of Science, in Broad Street. In the first night alone, over 1300 of you visited!

The community sculpture which was at the base of the spire was brought to light with the fire jars that had been created by school children though out the county. A series of workshops organised by Fusion toured the county's schools and the children were then encouraged to bring their completed fire jars to Broad Street. At the end of Luminox all the fire jars were then recycled.