Notti di Luce (Night Lights) is the brainchild of the Bergamo Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with Clay Paky and other Bergamo area corporations in the entertainment and communication field. It has become an eagerly awaited and widely popular annual event. The project’s goal is the rediscovery of the collective use of the urban centre and enhancement of its squares, monuments and ancient corners, bathing both inhabitants and city structures in light and color.
The artistic project
The wonder, the celebration of lightness, the delicate balance between imagination, science and technology are but a few of the themes featured in the the Notti di Luce 2003 artistic project. The event was opened by the athletic dance company Kataklò: this extraordinary theatrical and athletic group opened the Sidney Olympic Games and the World Cup Championships in Paris. It presented its new “Up, Vertical Energy” performance, a tribute to mountains, a blend of extreme athleticism and poetic expression. The second evening was dedicated to “the Voice” par excellence Frank Sinatra, interpreted by English singer Nick The Nightfly and narrated by the young actress Chiara Colombo. The orchestra ensemble featured several solo artists from the Milan Rai Orchestra as directed by Gabriele Comeglio. The final evening offered a theatrical reading by Mario Bertasa of Italo Calvino’s renowned book “The Cosmicomics” interpreted by Gene Gnocchi with original musical score by the Neji trio under Oreste Castagna’s direction.
Art and Light Show
As the event’s name suggests, the use of light plays a starring role in all three evenings. The lighting system was supplied exclusively by Clay Paky, a Bergamo area company which 25 years ago, lay the foundations for its international expansion. The light project was the creation of Lighting Designer Andrea Mantovani with technical and artistic support by Renato Neri from Xenon, who was responsible for organizing and outfitting the stage.
The lighting system included 10 Stage Profile Plus SVs for front lighting, the general lighting and projection of shapes onto the Court House; 20 Super Scan Zooms for lateral beams, effects and back lighting; 12 Stage Light 300s for stage lighting, several Stage Zoom 1200s and Stage Color 1200s and 20 CP Colors for coloring the Court House’s pilasters and the square’s gardens.
In addition to supervising the artists’ performances, Andrea Mantovani staged two light shows which opened and closed the evenings. He commented: “Unable to work directly on location the days before the event, I prepared the exhibitions inside the show room on the Clay Paky premises. I used a selected variety of projectors to be used later for the performances in Piazza Dante. It was naturally a question of adapting this light design to the environmental parameters I would find later: the buildings, the spaces, including those occupied by the public. Some of the scenes which I had found particularly pleasing in the show room had a completely different impact outdoors: they were then revised and adapted, maintaining the original synchronization whenever possible.”
Andrea Mantovani also supervised the light programming for the Kataklò performance (in collaboration with Andrea Zorzi, former Italian volleyball champion), the Gene Gnocchi show (with director Oreste Castagna’s collaboration) and for the Frank Sinatra tribute, which he explained in detail: “I had prepared 12 light photographs to accompany different musical pieces: numerous multi-colored scenarios with graphic effects projected onto the Court House in order to create a backdrop that was not overly intrusive”.
Like every year, “Notti di Luce” was a superb combination of different art forms aimed at conveying joy and light, all the while taking shape beneath the eyes of the inhabitants. In this setting, Clay Paky projectors demonstrated their reliability and versatility for different spheres of usage whether it be live exhibitions, dance performances, theatrical recitals or for lighting buildings, squares and other architectural settings.