2023-12-21 12:00:51
How the rays look from a short distance depends greatly on the weather, but there are times when they are quite effective. Photo: Boringnarva/Instagram
Last Sunday, December 17, in the Krenholm part of Narva, next to the Joala building 20, in which the Estonian State Gymnasium temporarily operates, a celebration was held on the occasion of the lighting of spotlights, the rays of which form a symbolic Christmas tree in the sky, that is, not just a triangle.
An interesting light installation, the work of which has been agreed until January 10, and the corresponding point, the “light show”, has appeared on the map for pilots, is an initiative of the public, a movement in support of the development of the “Quarter of Culture”, the territory of the manufactory, and the entire Krenholm.
Not a cent from the city budget was spent on it; the money was provided by sponsors – the security company Rapid security and the owner of the property of the historical manufactory Narva Gate.
Representatives of the sponsors were also part of the competition jury (it also included city artist Denis Girenko, art teacher and former city artist Margit Sibul, head of the Art Residence Johanna Rannula), which examined 10 projects of the “Krenholm Christmas tree” and selected the two best, giving first place to “ To the Dragon’s Teeth”, and the second to the “Light Christmas Tree”.
Things didn’t work out with “Zubi”. They wanted to make the Christmas tree out of concrete pyramids, similar to those prepared on the Friendship Bridge, in order to close the border in case of emergency, thus turning them into the main New Year’s symbol, creating an extremely relevant art object. But it turned out that the implementation of the project would take longer than the author, Narvite Kirill Smirnov, had hoped, and the price would be higher than expected. The latter is less significant than the first.
“For ten days we tried to find a technical solution, but the Estonian concrete workers unanimously refused the non-standard order – a New Year tree made from “dragon teeth.”
“For ten days we tried to find a technical solution, but the Estonian concrete workers unanimously refused the non-standard order – a New Year tree made from “dragon teeth.” Neither persuasion, nor the prospect of glorifying the manufacturer in the press, nor an increase in the budget helped. The only manufacturer who agreed to take into production a concrete Christmas tree said that he would be able to deliver it only in January 2024,” Kirill Smirnov commented on the situation.
The author of “The Light Tree” is Elo Liiv. Private archive
It was decided to bring the idea of the “Light Tree” to life, but with it everything did not work out as well as they had hoped. In her application for the competition, the author of the idea, Elo Liiv, an artist working with light from Tartu, who had previously implemented a couple of light installation projects on Krenholm, reported that the rays directed into the sky by a similar technique from the tower in Tartu were visible from 50 kilometers away.
We expected the same power and effect, but it is much more modest. The Krenholm “Light Tree” is not really visible even from several hundred meters.
“There is much more light pollution in Narva than in Tartu,” explains Elo Liiv’s failure.
However, the light of the Kreenholm rays, according to her idea, should symbolize the light of hope of the Narvitians for a better future, but the hope, it turns out, is not so thorough, strong, but the main thing is that it is there, it shines, note in the Facebook group Kruvi, which organized the competition and brought it to life result.
Social activists say that the “Light Tree” somehow attracts Narvitians who have heard about it to Krenholm, and draws attention to him.
The post Not with city money: the “Illuminated Christmas Tree” was lit on Krenholm first appeared on gazeta.ee.
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