King's Lynn buildings lit up with climate change themes for new autumn project

Landmarks in Lynn town centre were lit up on Sunday evening to kickstart the latest light projections initiative in the town.

Collusion’s visual artist Ben Sheppee has masterminded the project which will explore how the effects of climate change can be reversed.

The project is called 'Drawdown' and it aims to draw attention to a different theme at each of the buildings involved.

These are 'Emissions' at the Minster; 'Afforestation' at St Nicholas’ Chapel; 'Water' at the Custom House and 'Energy' at Greyfriars Tower.

Mr Sheppee: “The difficulty with climate change is that many of us have become desensitised to it and feel like we are being told off for the state of the planet.

"I came across Drawdown, a project led by an international group of scientists who are proposing how to reverse the effects of climate change based on hard research.

"They've come up with a report ranking 100 ways to reverse climate change. To create this work, I’ve focused on the most relevant subjects for King’s Lynn, tailoring the selected solutions to the locality.”

Collusion is a not-for-profit company based in Cambridge which creates interactive public artworks.

It has now been working in the town for four years in partnership with the borough council to create new work for the projectors, including the 'King’s Lynn R&D Challenge' (2017) and 'Reveal' (2018).

Collusion’s director Rachel Drury said: “This has been a very hard year for us all, the arts sector included. People are missing the experience of cultural events, so we are proud to be bringing such a beautiful and thought-provoking experience to King’s Lynn, one that everyone can enjoy at a time when so many of our usual activities are off the table.”

Deputy leader and cabinet member for culture, heritage and health, councillor Elizabeth Nockolds, said: “During half term I hope that people come and have a look at the vibrant projections. This should be a Covid-secure way to get some fresh air, enjoy what the town has to offer and see the artwork being displayed.”

Councillor Paul Kunes, cabinet member for climate change and commercial services, added: “This is a fantastically creative way to get some very important messages across to our residents. I’m looking forward to seeing more of these projections over the next few weeks and urge people to see how they can make a difference.”

Drawdown is the first of four climate related artworks by Collusion that will be delivered between October 2020 and May 2022 as part of the Game On series.

This aims to establish Lynn as a national centre of excellence for cultural innovation in interactive, town-scale projection-based artworks, supported by a networked digital cluster of specialist creative businesses.

Drawdown runs for one month and can be seen from nightfall until 10pm each evening.

Visitors are encouraged to bring a torch and to follow the latest Covid-19 guidelines whilst enjoying the project.