Facades of Illumination

Christo and Jeanne-Claude's environmental installations can transform mundane landscapes into something fresh and worth exploring. An Italian artist and designer Valerio Festi's works seem to have similar function.

Valerio Festi's is best known for his outdoor illuminations using thousands of lights attached to flat architectural supports. The design of his works resemble facades of Baroque architectures.






Valerio Festi and Hirokazu Imaoka, Kobe Luminarie (2010), Kobe, Japan


I visited Tokyo Millenario (1999-2000) which was an art event took place on various streets in Tokyo Marunouchi area (where the Tokyo Station is) from Christmas Eve to the New Years Day. Tokyo Millenario is a collaborative event between Festi and a Japanese event producer Hirokazu Imaoka. Since Tokyo train system runs for 24 hours during New Year's Eve to New Year's Day, I took the advantage to see the work in the Millennium's Eve.

Each of Festi's illuminated arch was installed across the street. The alley of illuminations across the street was visually forming a tunnel of light. Occupied by the army of lights, the banal Japanese urban view was completely altered into an Italian dream world. I experienced how illuminations in the dark can effectively create illusions of spaces and dominate our perception. The event run for 9 nights and each night drove 200,000 viewers who wants to see the street, which was mundane to them otherwise.

Tokyo Millenario was essentially a celebrative event for the arrival of the new century (as the title suggests), however, it have been converted into an annual event due to its commercial success.





Valerio Festi and Hirokazu Imaoka, Tokyo Millenario (2005-06), Tokyo, Japan