Son et lumière

10 February 2017

Despite three days of resting my poor injured foot there was no way I was staying home tonight. Commando read an article in the Echo about a sound and light show at the new Watermark Development and CJ and I were eager to see it, even though we had no real idea what to expect. In normal circumstances we’d have walked over the Big Bridge into town but this evening, to avoid too much walking, we caught the bus. 

The show was due to start at five but, thinking there might be crowds, we arrived a little early. In the end it wasn’t as busy as we’d expected and we found a place to stand overlooking the medieval walls, got the camera out and waited. In late December there was a similar show but, as I was on my way to Iceland at the time, I missed it. Then scenes from Southampton’s history were projected onto the walls and, from what the Echo said, we both thought we were about to witness something similar.

In the plaza  below there was an installation with long strings of lights that changed colour, a little like the ones we saw in Salisbury a couple of summers ago. We didn’t want to lose our spot though, so we stayed put and waited. After ten very long, cold minutes of looking from the blank walks to my watch and back a beam of light swept across the paving of the plaza. Excitement peaked but nothing else happened for a few more minutes.

Right when we were beginning to give up, more swirls of light appeared. They might have been roses but we couldn’t really tell. By now there was music to go with the lights and soon they moved from the ground to the walls.

Something that looked like snakeskin slithered up the side of Catchcold Tower. In shades of red and gold it gilded across the expanse of wall towards Arundel Tower, slowly morphing into a honeycomb pattern as it went.
“I thought it was going to be about the history of the city,” I said, “but I’m not sure how snakes fit in.”
“Maybe it’s just a test to check the lights are working properly,” CJ suggested. “It’s still light after all. How long does it go on anyway?”
“I have no idea but it’ll be dark pretty soon.”
“Good, because I’m freezing. We should have got a takeaway coffee to keep our hands warm.”

While we were talking the snake come honeycomb had morphed into flower buds. In front of our eyes they opened and bloomed on the ancient stones. Flowers didn’t really have anything to do with the history of the city either but we both had to admit they were pretty. The flowers faded and were replaced by waves, geometric shapes and what looked like green arrows going in all directions.

We were still trying to work out what it all meant when it changed again. Swirling waves and arrows became rainbow bubbles floating across the walls. When the bubbles turned into snakeskin and honeycomb again we realised it was a cycle. So, after a few more minutes of watching just to be sure, we headed off to look at the strings of lights below.

Before we reached the installation we came to columns and arches of brightly lit cubes. Something about them put me in mind of Rubic’s Cubes but without all the head scratching and frustration. CJ said they looked like huge industrial water containers.

Now we were right down in the plaza where even the bare branches of the trees were bathed in coloured light. The strings of lights weren’t quite like the ones we remembered in salisbury, although this could have been because they were outside in the open rather than in a dark archway. The little globes changed colour in waves, giving the impression of a colourful blizzard.

When we’d had our fill we walked back across the plaza, having decided we’d have a coffee to warm us before we watched the light show again in the dark, assuming it was still going by then. CJ had a little fun with the lights along the way. He stood at the base of Catchcold Tower while the flowers played across his clothes. There were little coloured lights set in the paving and he stood over one becoming a colourful, if rather sinister looking, pillar of light.

We climbed the new steps trying to decide between Costa in WestQuay and the coffe cart we discovered the other week inside the new Watermark. In the end an interactive display called Fire and Ice decided for us. We couldn’t resist having a go and, as this meant walking away from Costa and towards the coffee cart, the descision was made.

Half an hour later we came back outside, considerably warmer, to discover the light show was still going on. In the dark the lights were far brighter, even if some of them didn’t seem to be working quite as they should. We stood and watched one more time as bubbles, snakes, honeycombs and flowers transformed the old town walls. It may not have been quite what we’d expected to see and it may have been far colder than either of us would have liked, but the medieval walls had never looked so colourful. Hopefully there will be many more of these displays to come.

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