Access to the survey here : https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LAIPSfinalconf

Access the Light & Art Map here: https://lightartmap.org/

Programme

Bringing life to public spaces with Light Art

2-3 November 2023 in Turin

All times listed are in Central European Time (CET)

Note: the programme is subject to change.

The entire programme is designed for in-person participation; the event will not be streamed online.

Convert to your local time here

Thursday 2 November 2023

📍 Salone d’Onore in Castello del Valentino (Viale Mattioli, 39, 10125 Torino)

Sessions are moderated by Jessica Ferey and Dr. Marco Bevolo

16:00-16:30 | Registration

16:30-17:00 | Opening

Rosanna Purchia, City Councillor for Culture, City of Turin
Audrey Hénocque – 1st Deputy Mayor, City of Lyon
Meri Lumela, President of LUCI, Deputy Chair of the City Board of Jyväskylä
Guido Saracco, Rector, Politecnico di Torino

17:00-17:45 | The power of light art to transform public spaces in cities

Frédéric Durand, Head of the Studies Department, Urban Lighting Department, City of Lyon
Leena Pälli, Senior Advisor, Cultural Services, City of Oulu
Matteo Scainelli, Cultural Activities Service, European Cultural Networks and Projects, City of Turin

Representatives from the three partner cities (Lyon, Oulu, and Turin) of the Creative Europe Cooperation Project LAiPS will share their experiences and feedback, explaining how permanent light art plays a role in transforming public spaces in their cities. How do these light artworks contribute to the economical, social and cultural dimensions in a city? What’s next for light art considering new technologies and the current ecological context? They will share lessons learned during the various Light & Art Labs and discuss the importance of the unique Light & Art Map that will be unveiled at the conference. The cities will close the session with three questions that will animate the next day’s interactive IDEATHON.

17:45-18:00 | Launch of the Light & Art Map, the LAiPS innovative digital tool that promotes light art in public spaces

18:00 | Bus leaves to go to the City Center

19:30-21:00 | Cocktail dinner

📍 Egyptian Museum (Via Accademia delle Scienze, 6, 10123 Torino)

21:00 | Night Visit of the Luci d’Artista festival with the Light & Art Map

Friday 3 November 2023

📍 Lingotto Auditorium (Via Nizza, 230, 10126 Torino)

Sessions are moderated by Jessica Ferey and Dr. Marco Bevolo

09:00-09:30 | Registration

09:30-9:45 | Welcome and Warm-up

9:45-11:15 | LAiPS Talks

In a series of short and inspiring talks, prominent figures from the field will address light art through interdisciplinary perspectives.

The Art of Light: A Universal Journey – Titia Ex, Artist, The Art of Light Projects

Light is a fundamental carrier in defining the appreciation of our living environment. Light activates our body, the biological clock of humans and animals, greening, public space. Light influences urban space and social life, shaping our behavior, mood and sense of security. It facilitates or hinders social relationships and participation in public life. Light is much more than a medium that enables us to see.

Artist Titia Ex sees public space as a living organism. A continuous process of interaction between people, our environment and the cycle of day and night. The immaterial nature of the medium light makes it possible to play with time and space. Using her artworks, she will talk about the Art of Light as a representation of life, of energy in the city, as poetry.

Art in awkward places? – Andrea Bocco, Professor at Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning, Politecnico di Torino

In his talk, Andrea will propose a reading of the centre/periphery dynamics in Turin of the Luci d’Artista artworks. The sites and neighbourhoods where the light art works have been placed will be discussed in the framework of a few socio-economic indicators as well as consider the social perception and public discourse on the different neighbourhoods. Andrea will relate this to other urban regeneration and local development policies, including those aimed at promoting (bottom-up) creativity and at establishing community hubs. These notes aim at providing a little contribution to the discussion around the effectiveness of ‘putting places on a map’ through public art.

The role of light in the development and identity of the Quartier des spectacles and Montreal’s downtown – Éric Lefebvre, General Director of Quartier des spectacles Partnership, Montreal

Since 2006, the cultural heart of Montreal has been using light to identify its territory and highlight its performance venues and cultural venues. The lighting of the Quartier des spectacles has become a flagship project for animating its public spaces and a tool for stimulating the vitality of the downtown area. In 2023, the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership undertook a unifying and structuring approach to imagining future lighting schemes for the downtown area, based on a new global frame of reference for the implementation of a realistic, viable and promising lighting plan, anchored in current environmental concerns.

Shaping nightscapes through light art and engineering – Anna Pellegrino, Associate Professor at Department of Energy, Politecnico di Torino

What is nightscape for people? What are the feelings and thoughts related to the word nightscape? Starting from a brief overview of the results of a brainstorming on the topic, carried out with students of the School of Architecture of Politecnico di Torino, this talk will offer insights on how light engineering and light art can respond to some of the main requirements and challenges related to designing urban lighting and shaping urban nightscapes today. In particular, the presentation will provide reflections on the possibility of combining or overlapping the two approaches to enhance livability and sustainability of cities.

11:15-12:00 | Q&A with LAiPS Talks Speakers

12:00-13:30 | Lunch

13:30-14:30 | Keynote and Q&A

Floodlight to spotlight – the big and the small of placemaking – Dr. Cara Courage, Culture and Place Consultant-Director

If you’ve ever found yourself thinking ‘what is placemaking?’ you are not alone, amongst those that work with people in place in any capacity and indeed, amongst placemakers. And what doesn’t help us answer this is the numerous understandings of placemaking out there today.

In this keynote, Cara will offer a definition of placemaking that encompasses its widest horizon and will cast a floodlight on what makes up a placemaking practice, and asks you, where do you sit on the spectrum of placemaking practices?

The arts and working with artists are the golden thread that runs through placemaking. Cara will offer ways and means to both, with a spotlight on global examples of placemaking’s outcomes and outputs and principles and values to take into your own context: How can you (better) work with artists in your work? How can you (better) include the community of place as equal stakeholders in your placemaking practices? Who do you need at your placemaking table that may not be there now?

14:30-16:45 | IDEATHON: Interactive Workshop

Flex your creative problem solving muscles and participate in this IDEATHON moment to gather collective brain power to answer the project cities’ main questions about the future of light art in public space. More information coming soon!

16:45-17:00 | Closing of the Conference

📍Lingotto Auditorium

18:00 | Bus departure from NH Lingotto Hotel to Piazza Castello

18:30-20:30 | Night Visit by foot of Luci d’Artista festival with the Light & Art Map

20:30-22:30 | Closing dinner

📍Palazzo Madama (Piazza Castello, 10122 Torino)

23:00 | Bus departure to NH Lingotto Hotel