UK's biggest-ever light show switched on » Local Government » 24dash.com

The UK's biggest-ever piece of artwork created from light was unveiled in Newcastle tonight.

Nocturne, a 360-metre creation by artist Nayan Kulkarni, burst into life over part of Newcastle and Gateshead's historic Quayside.

The £300,000 project, which is bigger than three football pitches, will illuminate the Queen Elizabeth II Metro Bridge for at least 15 years.

Its low-energy LED lights will never repeat the same combination of colours twice as pre-programmed barcodes of colour ripple across the structure, rising and falling in brightness and intensity to match the ebb and flow of the tide below.

Millions of people will see Nocturne every year, from the Quaysides and from surrounding homes, offices, roads and even the East Coast Mainline.

Public transport group Nexus, which operates the Metro light railway, has a 30-year-history of investing in art but this is its biggest project to date.

Nocturne has been hailed as a major new permanent landmark for the North East and one which underlines the importance of Metro to the region's economy and people.

Bernard Garner, director general of Nexus, said: "Nocturne is set to become a new landmark for North East England and is Britain's biggest new light artwork.

"It has been a huge task - the biggest art project Nexus has been involved with and easily the most exciting and high profile.

"This major capital project has seen us invest in the future of Metro by protecting the bridge from the elements through a new paint scheme, while also creating a new landmark for the north east of England to stand alongside the world-famous attractions of the Quayside."

Both the distinctive new two-tone blue paint scheme and the low-energy LED light display were devised by Nayan Kulkarni and are designed to highlight the structure of the bridge while creating a new artistic landmark in the night sky.

Nayan Kulkarni said: "Nocturne will be shaped by thousands of people. Like voices singing within a choir it will be impossible to distinguish an individual picture from the final colours on the bridge."

The low-energy LED lights consume less power than a domestic dishwasher, but are capable of creating 16.5 million colours - or more than two billion possible combinations of colour across the whole bridge.

The design means the light is contained within the bridge, causing a minimum of ambient light pollution while creating a spectacular kaleidoscope of colour.

Thousands of snapshot images sent in by members of the public have been turned into 'bar codes' of colour which will ripple back and forth across the bridge over the next 15 years, with a different colour pattern each night rising and falling in intensity of colour to match the tides of the river below.

Copyright Press Association 2007.

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