Botanic D'Lights dream opportunity for young lighting designer

For Auckland-based lighting designer Angus Muir, the post-earthquake open spaces of his hometown of Christchurch are a dream workspace.

As an architect, he’s always believed the people and space around a building bring it to life, not the structure itself. And next month, he’s bringing that ethos and some serious global clout to the five-night, Botanic D’Lights festival of light.

Muir is among dozens of lighting artists and designers who will display their creative genius at the five-night Botanic D’Lights event from August 3.

A trained architect, Mr Muir has been taking his lighting installations around the world over the last year, and most recently exhibited at the highly acclaimed Vivid Sydney.

Angus Muir's lighting installations have featured at Sydney's Vivid.

“We’ve done some really cool things over the last year. We’ve been in Iceland, Singapore, China, Amsterdam, Sweden… we’ve been busy ... But bringing something to Christchurch is really exciting.”

Mr Muir’s love of lighting and spaces began as a student at St Andrew’s College when he went on a course at the Court Theatre and learned theatre lighting.

“That really kicked off my interest in lighting. I got into pyrotechnics at school and I did all the productions. I also had an interest in art, so I was either in the theatre or in the art room, and that led me to do my Masters in Architecture in Auckland.”

Muir, who now runs Angus Muir Design, had been wanting to exhibit in Christchurch for some time and, after several meetings over the past few years, has now succeeded.

“I’ve been wanting to do something in Christchurch for a long time and have been trying to get traction, so I’m really excited for this opportunity to work at Botanic D’Lights.

“There has definitely been a renewed interest in our public spaces. How we use them and how we light them. I think a lot of the Christchurch projects around this like Green the Rubble, and Gapfiller, have been really interesting and I’ve enjoyed watching what they’re doing.”

Botanic D’Lights will transform the Christchurch Botanic Gardens into a spectacle of illuminated art and innovative light installations for five nights from August 3. Entry is by gold coin donation.

Find out more on Botanic D’Lights.