lux
— n , pl lux
the derived SI unit of illu­mi­na­tion equal to a lumi­nous flux of 1 lumen per square metre. 1 lux is equiv­a­lent to 0.0929 foot-can­dle.

I don’t know about you, but to me a lumi­nous flux sounds like it should be a lot of fun. It sounds like a light switch being turned on in your brain and excit­ing things hap­pen. You’d see colours you did­n’t know exist­ed, see things in new ways and begin to think in new ways. A lumi­nous flux sounds like some­thing full of pos­si­bil­i­ty.

WgtnLUX-01

Into it’s fourth year LUX Welling­ton is a lights fes­ti­val that takes over the water­front and a num­ber of alley­ways through the city cen­tre. Last year the fes­ti­val coin­cid­ed with an awful, awful storm so my fin­gers are crossed for bet­ter weath­er this time around. Weath­er was­n’t the only rea­son I missed out on see­ing any of the dis­plays last year, I was busy eat­ing my way around the city, eyes and taste buds focused on the Welling­ton on a Plate Pro­gramme. This year how­ev­er, if you are quick, you can enjoy a deLux Din­ing expe­ri­ence as Welling­ton on a Plate have teamed up with LUX and are offer­ing treats for your eyes and taste buds. In fact, even if you miss out on those spe­cial offer­ings, there’s the Food Truck Trail­er Park that’ll have a range of awe­some local food avail­able.

There’ll be 32 works on dis­play after dark, 6pm-11pm, from 22 — 31 August. AND IT’S FREE!!!!

You can check out a few of the instal­la­tions here. LUX seems to be a series of cre­ations that com­bine sound and light in a num­ber of inter­est­ing ways sure to fas­ci­nate your eyes and mind, and per­haps take your brain off that ever present souther­ly ‘breeze’. Keep your eyes out for Jon Baxter’s Boing Boing Gloop Machine and COLOUR FALL by Dark­lit Design from the Wairara­pa. There’ll be a num­ber of New Zealand and Inter­na­tion­al artists and for the first time — 6 Massey Grad­u­ates will get to dis­play pieces.

I won’t be miss­ing out on this two years run­ning. I’ll be scop­ing out the Welling­ton weath­er fore­cast, grab­bing a jack­et and scarf and be jump­ing into this lumi­nous flux with my mind and eyes wide open. Yes, I realise I can’t actu­al­ly leap into a lumi­nous flux. Or can I?!?!?