Sharjah Light Festival: Illuminating the city one light at a time

Sharjah: Nine nights a year, the emirate of Sharjah is transformed by an enthralling symphony of lights, colours and images.

On its last day on February 14, the Sharjah Light festival (SLF) will put into focus the emirate’s most prominent mosques, buildings, and landmarks by featuring colourful light shows that offer a glimpse of Emirati culture and heritage.

But just how much preparation is needed to light up 12 locations of the city for nine consecutive nights?

Gulf News spoke to Mohammad Ali Al Noman, Chairman of Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA), about the technicalities behind the scenes of the Sharjah Light Festival 2014.

With the help of more than 100 crew members and months of preparation, plans for the event begin shortly after the end of the previous year’s light festival. “One or two months after the end of the festival, we start planning and finalising the theme for the next one — then we present the ideas to the designers and artists in the last quarter of the year,” Al Noman said.

This year, 10 designers and artists from Europe, Asia and Africa took part in the design process, which fell under the theme “Sharjah, the Capital of Islamic Culture”, for 2014.

“This will be the brand for all the events that Sharjah hosts or organises this year,” he added.

The designers are given a general idea of the theme and are allowed time to prepare their initial designs and sketches for the buildings they are working on. The first step is to take pictures of the buildings and locations chosen for the festival.

“The images are placed on a program where the outline of the building is highlighted and coloured in by the artist who then adds their own effects and touches.”

Over a series of meetings between the SCTDA and the artists, the designs are developed and altered to precision. Depending on the location and building, some displays are made into dynamic, 3D projections, and are combined with music, while others projected onto buildings such as mosques are static with no song compositions combined.

The light designs at each location are created by the design team from Nomada, the event management company, and tailored to suit the architecture of each building, Al Noman said. The design process is completed and ready by December.

Along with 10 designers, the team included 60 technical crew members and 50 other members from the SCTDA.

While the festival stands as an annual celebration for Sharjah’s residents, the environment is also a factor that is considered during the planning process.

“After obtaining information from Sewa (the Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority) we were able to find that during the nights of the festival, there is a 50 per cent reduction in the overall electricity consumption at the 12 locations,” said Al Noman.

The main lights used are LED lights, tungsten lights, halogen lights, HMI lights, fluorescent lights and neon lights. This year, approximately 2,500 lighting units were used across the 12 locations.

To complete the technical part of the preparations, a range of machines and projectors, which are used to reflect the light displays are installed over a period of two to three weeks. The trial period takes place 72 hours before the opening of the festival. The fourth edition of the festival was inaugurated by His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, on Feb. 6 and will run until Feb. 14.