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?!?!?