“I think COVID evaporated a lot of our connections,” says Bernard Duguay, founding CEO, producer and designer for Lucion Travelling Light. “We're finding ourselves in silos and we've become autonomous, but isolated. Public art can re-link us through playing together, through sharing—sharing points of lights, [sharing] stories.” 

Thanks to the International Children’s Festival of the Arts, this December St. Albertans will get their chance to play with Lucion’s EXPosure exhibit, created by multimedia artist Sébastien Joly. Featuring three giant globes that radiate with vivid colours in the dark of night, residents will be invited downtown to St. Albert Place to enjoy the illuminated art installation and interact with its light-sensitive technology.  

Remember to bring along your cell phone or a flashlight, as light is required to interact with the piece. Direct the light from your cell phone’s flashlight towards your face (not towards the globe) and the installation’s camera will activate, taking a photo of you and projecting it onto the installation. You can also draw with the light from your cell phone or flashlight, leaving doodles of lightening-esque lines crackling across the surface of the public art piece. 

“We do a lot of projections in these bubbles, but [EXPosure] is more of a fun bubble,” says Duguay. [Visitors] just want to express themselves and appear in it and take pictures, then share it on the [internet].” 

The Quebec-based company has taken their ‘bubbles’ all over the world. EXPosure has travelled to New Orleans, Jerusalem, Beijing, Washington, Houston, Gu’an and Dalian. And now, with the help of a Canadian Heritage grant and the support of the Friends of the Children’s Festival Society, it’s coming to St. Albert. While the oversized ‘bubbles’ create a sense of wonder in any cityscape, the choice of the globe structure is a practical one, as the round shape is well suited to resisting the wind.   

While the temporary public art that Lucion produces has taken Duguay and his staff around the world, Duguay actually comes from a background in theatre, working for many years as a lighting technician for the stage. He says he went through the ‘Audio Visual revolution,’ where projection became akin to an extra actor on stage.  

“I really always think [in terms of] theatre, so whatever event has to have a physical aspect,” says Duguay. “There's a low tech, a very human stage approach to what we do. So that's the angle and I think it's paying off. Because, in this world of special effects and really powerful computers and things—all these virtual worlds—our angle is to really make it real. That you can touch the installation, you can feel it, you can play with it. So, you're in your body when you experience these things.” 

While the reception to the company’s work has only grown warmer in the pandemic era, where artistic experiences have been scarce, Duguay thinks communities have a lot of rebuilding ahead. 

“There's a lot of work to do, but it's important to re-link.” 

The magic of EXPosure will appear starting December 8th, on the plaza in front of St. Albert Place (5 St. Anne Street) and run until December 12th. The event is free, but donations to the Children’s Festival will be gratefully accepted.

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