Arthur’s Seat: alive with light at this year’s Edinburgh Festival

By WILL COOPER
Published on 13/07/2012 17:17

IN AUGUST, as part of the Edinburgh International Festival and the London 2012 Festival, runners and walkers will converge on Arthur’s Seat to participate in a mass display of visual art.

On the ascent the participants in the Speed of Light performance, wearing specially designed light suits, become the art work - a living light display set against Edinburgh’s grandest natural landmark.

Art is about the struggle, if the audience doesn’t feel the emotion of getting to a certian place in the end, then the work is less rewarding. That is at the heart of this inventive production, the viewers are the art, they struggle themselves - emotionally and physically.

They are encouraged to work to gain the reward in the end. In a traditional theatre production, the audience runs emotionally through the piece. Here, the audience literally runs and is rewarded with a spectacle.

The people behind Speed of Light are passionate about running, it is an experience they want to share. The beauty of a lone runner is not outwardly rewarding, it is in the experience of that one person. This is what they want to express, the beauty they feel and the reward they find in going running, but also the paradox.

On a chemical level, what happens to you when you run? The sense of achievement, oneness with the world, the experience. Alongside the physical grind and the boredom.

This work is of paradoxes - the beautiful exterior of Speed of Light, the light show seen from afar versus the sweaty reality of the runner. The individual is unspectacular – watching one person run is not interesting. But the collective is breathtaking.

• For tickets visit Edinburgh International Festival or NVA website