Perth, in Western Australia, has been using it’s tagline of being the “city of light” ever since John Glenn, the first astronaut to orbit the earth in his Friendship 7 Mercury capsule way back in 1962, saw Perth from space when flying overhead in the middle of the night. He radioed that he could clearly see Perth as a city of light from space that night. To make his journey memorable the residents and local governments wanted to make sure that John could see the city and feel their support by keeping the lights on during the night. 

The moment was very memorable for both John and the people of Perth and the memory of Perth  lighting up their city for John ultimately led to Perth being known as the “City of Light” across the world.

Perth has endeavoured to keep this tagline as one of the important visions for its city strategies by creating lighting related events every year. The latest addition is an event called Lightscape which is held in the city’s Botanical Garden in beautiful Kings Park which overlooks the Perth city skyline. Specifically commissioned for Perth, the 2-month long event is held from June to July, the winter months, capitalising on the longer nights.

While these events can often be tacky (at least from my pointy of view as a lighting designer) this event is very professionally realised, synchronised with sound and music as you walk a 2 km trail through the Gardens. The trail snakes through the Gardens creating unexpected lighting effects and installations. At times I felt in the movie Avatar (the first one 😊) courtesy of cleverly designed lighting effects, well integrated in the surrounding landscape. Lighting positions, aiming and projections were carefully chosen to maximise the impact and minimise glare or discomfort (typically the lighting designer in me speaking I guess).  

No doubt todays smart LED lighting technology is helping to achieve that quality even better, but hat’s off to the creators who understood that it is the magical experience of seeing light that wowed the crowd. 

Interestingly pathway lighting was kept to a very minimum, with lights only where needed, which in a country where occupational health and safety are predominant, was quite surprising. I am very comfortable in the dark, but not everyone is. However I heard no complaints, which tells you that at times the experience might be as important or even more important than safety.  

It was definitely a rare moment of peace and magic making you forget the troubles of our world. The fact that it was created in the middle of nature (and not in the middle of the city) contributed even more to the feeling of peace and well being. Well done.