Speed of Light to Light up Arthur’s Seat

Speed of Light is an exciting melding of innovative mass participation art and sport being created by public art organisation NVA. The large scale work’s premiere will be a major feature of Edinburgh International Festival 2012 running for the full three weeks of the Festival on Arthur’s Seat.

Using light sources powered by physical and kinetic movements, the mountainside presentation will create iconic imagery through the invention of a new human powered lighting system with thousands of participants nightly ascending a set route. Amateur sports and arts enthusiasts of all levels of ability, on foot, in wheelchairs and on bikes, will move across and around the hill creating flowing rivers of animated light patterns.

Speed of Light will explore people’s sense of self and of place in the world, their aspirations and key areas of common concern; health and environmental sustainability. The project will be accompanied by a programme of associated activity over a period of three years from 2012-14. Funding has now been confirmed by Legacy Trust UK, an independent charity set up to create a cultural legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games across the UK.

As well as the evening events, each day, the Speed of Light 21 x 21 endurance event will explore the extent to which the power of the mind can overcome physical suffering. Runners can take part in a daily 21 kilometre half marathon over 21 days, covering a total distance of 441 kilometres around and over Arthur’s Seat.

Dugald Mackie, Chair of Legacy Trust UK commented, “Speed of Light will help spread the magic and excitement of the 2012 Games outside London and leave a lasting legacy across Scotland. The Games aren’t just for two weeks, and they’re not just for sports fans.”

The collaborative methodology behind the work will be documented, discussed and shared widely beyond 2012 with further presentations linked to Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Jonathan Mills, Edinburgh International Festival Director said, “Speed of Light is a vast and exciting project with important and timely ambitions and values. It also represents the first major artist-led collaboration involving the gamut of Edinburgh’s festivals. Its breadth is challenging us to look at new ways of working and the many ways in which it might be possible for us each to engage with the scope and ideas of this visionary work.”

Established in 1992, NVA is a registered Scottish arts charity funded by Creative Scotland and a number of UK trusts and foundations. The organisation has produced award winning and dynamic projects in challenging landscapes – these have included temporary environmental lighting animations on the mountains of Skye; permanent spaces such as the Hidden Gardens in Glasgow, the current resuscitation of St Peter’s Seminary and major urban lighting festivals.

Edinburgh International Festival 2012 runs Friday 10 August to Sunday 2 September.

Sign up on the Speed of Light website http://speedoflight2012.org.uk/