With Enlightenment: An Immersive Light Show, the University of Edinburgh’s McEwan Hall comes to life with a mesmerising display of lights, sounds of nature, and a fresh arrangement of Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’. Following previous runs in Munich, Madrid, and Liverpool, Eonarium’s Enlightenment light show has arrived in Edinburgh with its exhibition projection mapped uniquely for McEwan Hall’s ornate interior.
Eonarium’s exhibitions travel from city to city, and their light shows are always designed specifically to fit within local architectural delights. Past exhibitions include Genesis, which tells the biblical story of creation.
For the duration of the show, McEwan Hall is cleared of its usual seats and filled instead with bean bags. Visitors are invited to lie down and gaze upwards as the kaleidoscope of colours moves across the hall’s walls, pillars, and dome. The elaborate murals of McEwan Hall peek through the light and become part of the show’s façade; it is a fascinating intersection of modern and classical art.
Those interested in modern art — specifically that of the digital and audio-visual style — should definitely pay McEwan hall a visit while Enlightenment is still running. Aside from the stunning visual show, great care has also been placed into the curation of the auditory experience. Sounds of nature are interspersed throughout the classical pieces, with bird songs and thunder used to evoke the respective seasons.
Enlightenment is purely an immersive, sensory experience. The display has no clear narrative intent, and the light show can become repetitive as we amble through each season and cycle repeatedly through various spells of rain, sleet, and snow — but it is, nevertheless, enthralling.
Image by Fever, provided as press material