Last night Internationally renowned processional spectacle company LUXe brought a bit of life to the city's walls to get festival goers ready for a huge weekend of "Rise of the River Gods" Halloween festival in the city.
Hallowe’en Carnival celebrations this week, with their supernatural Inferno blazing a trail on the historic City Walls.
LUXe, who are based in Co. Donegal, will be ‘Awakening The Walls’ as part of a series of dramatic light, fire, sculpture, music and performance during two evenings of free family-friendly festivities on and around the City Walls on Thursday, October 29th and Friday, October 30th from 6pm-8.30pm.
LUXE’s fiery festivities will be centred around the Grand Parade section of the City Walls to the rear of Bishop Street Within. There will be also weird and wonderful creatures at Guildhall Square in preparation for the ‘Rise Of The River Gods’ at this year’s world famous annual carnival celebrations.
Hallowe’en Carnival celebrations this week, with their supernatural Inferno blazing a trail on the historic City Walls.
LUXe, who are based in Co. Donegal, will be ‘Awakening The Walls’ as part of a series of dramatic light, fire, sculpture, music and performance during two evenings of free family-friendly festivities on and around the City Walls on Thursday, October 29th and Friday, October 30th from 6pm-8.30pm.
LUXE’s fiery festivities will be centred around the Grand Parade section of the City Walls to the rear of Bishop Street Within. There will be also weird and wonderful creatures at Guildhall Square in preparation for the ‘Rise Of The River Gods’ at this year’s world famous annual carnival celebrations.
Bishop’s Gate will be illuminated in honour of the two sculptured heads representing the River Foyle and River Boyne, with a large light installation by the North West Carnival Initiative on display around St Columb’s Cathedral.
The Armagh Rhymers, In Your Space and local rockers Triggerman will be among the entertainment in Guildhall Square, while the skeleton of Walter, the ancient Keeper of the City, will be projected from the Tower Museum.
Karan Leonard, Council’s Festivals and Events Manager, said the annual Hallowe’en carnival was going from strength to strength and they were delighted to welcome LUXE back to Derry for the third consecutive year.
She said: “‘Awakening The Walls’ is suitable for all ages and spectators can look forward to being dazzled by these amazing installations. We would encourage festival-goers to take an evening stroll, discover frights and delights and enjoy beautiful illuminations by local and visiting artists in this supernatural animation trail on and around the City Walls. As there are some steps, provision will be made for disabled access.”
LUXe, which is led by artists Mark Hill and Mandy Blinco and based at Burnfoot, Inishowen, will be using a crane parked at Bishop Street car park – which will be closed during the event – to hoist their dramatic fire installations onto the City Walls.
Mark said: “Inferno will be quite a spectacle for festival-goers on both evenings and we would encourage people to come along and enjoy the performances. We would also advise everyone to wear a coat and suitable footwear for outdoors, even if they will be warmed by the fire!”
LUXe, which was established in 2008, present around 25 shows a year all over Ireland, and have presented internationally from the remote fiords of Eastern Iceland in 2009 to a potential audience of 1.2 billion on Chinese networked TV when they performed at the Chinese New Year Night Parade in Hong Kong in 2013.
For full programme details of all events during the Derry-Strabane ‘Rise Of The River Gods’ Hallowe’en Carnival, visit www.derrystrabane.com
The Armagh Rhymers, In Your Space and local rockers Triggerman will be among the entertainment in Guildhall Square, while the skeleton of Walter, the ancient Keeper of the City, will be projected from the Tower Museum.
Karan Leonard, Council’s Festivals and Events Manager, said the annual Hallowe’en carnival was going from strength to strength and they were delighted to welcome LUXE back to Derry for the third consecutive year.
She said: “‘Awakening The Walls’ is suitable for all ages and spectators can look forward to being dazzled by these amazing installations. We would encourage festival-goers to take an evening stroll, discover frights and delights and enjoy beautiful illuminations by local and visiting artists in this supernatural animation trail on and around the City Walls. As there are some steps, provision will be made for disabled access.”
LUXe, which is led by artists Mark Hill and Mandy Blinco and based at Burnfoot, Inishowen, will be using a crane parked at Bishop Street car park – which will be closed during the event – to hoist their dramatic fire installations onto the City Walls.
Mark said: “Inferno will be quite a spectacle for festival-goers on both evenings and we would encourage people to come along and enjoy the performances. We would also advise everyone to wear a coat and suitable footwear for outdoors, even if they will be warmed by the fire!”
LUXe, which was established in 2008, present around 25 shows a year all over Ireland, and have presented internationally from the remote fiords of Eastern Iceland in 2009 to a potential audience of 1.2 billion on Chinese networked TV when they performed at the Chinese New Year Night Parade in Hong Kong in 2013.
For full programme details of all events during the Derry-Strabane ‘Rise Of The River Gods’ Hallowe’en Carnival, visit www.derrystrabane.com
