LYON (Reuters) – Lyon’s ‘Fete des Lumieres’, or Festival of Lights, which features intricate light structures projected on historical monuments and public buildings across town, is toning things down a bit this year due to the energy crisis, organisers said.
“We are in a period of sobriety, so we took special care regarding the choice of technology”, Lyon mayor Gregory Doucet told reporters.
The cost of electricity for the four-day festival, which has 30 artworks consisting of monumental projections, immersive installations and luminous objects, amounts to only 3,500 euros ($3,684), he said.
Artists were asked to save energy by using more efficient LED bulbs, and the environmental impact of their artwork was taken into account during the selection process.
“(The festival) is now part of the city’s DNA. It’s important to maintain this event, but that doesn’t mean we can’t send a message of sobriety,” Doucet explained.
Lyon locals Beatrice Roche and Laurent Oger attend the festival every year. “I feel it’s a little bit less ostentatious than the previous year”, Roche said. Oger added that “the benefit-consumption ratio seems reasonable”.
‘La Fete des Lumieres’, originally a festival in which locals celebrate the Virgin Mary by putting a candle on their window sills, attracts large crowds of visitors from all over the world.
It has changed considerably since its origins. This year, one of the artworks is the projection on Lyon’s art museum of giant portraits singing, among others, Britney Spears and AC/DC songs.
($1 = 0.9501 euros)
(Reporting by Cecile Mantovani, Writing by Charlotte Van Campenhout; Editing by Ingrid Melander and Bill Berkrot)
